The perique offers mild fruit/raisin/plum notes with some pepper as a supporting player. It has a naturally dark fruit sweet, slightly grassy, rather earthy Virginia taste, and a hint of chocolate if you are looking for it. And there is a very mild sweet topping, but I never found it distracting in any way. There is a light fermented quality to the sweetness, which likely comes from the aged tobaccos and the pressing. It does need some drying time, but if you dry it completely, you lose a little of the flavor. I cut it in very small, almost cube size, mixed in a few short, slim strips. It burns slowly, requires some relights, and leaves a little moisture in the bowl. Has a mild nic-hit. No chance of bite or harshness even when pushed. Has a cool, clean, smooth, sweet and spicy consistent flavor from top to bottom with a very pleasant after taste. Can be an all day smoke.

I somewhat recommend this blend to Va/Per lovers among us. It is a cautious recommendation because the Perique in this blend is absolutely over the top for me and judging from the previous reviews, may be a bit much for the average Va/Per lovers among us. Still, for those who love a Perique kick in the teeth, this is going to be worshipped.

As is the case with most all SG Virginia blends, the leaf is top-shelf and the presentation (in this case, flakes) is quite nicely done. The pendulum leans to the right in both strength and taste.

Fortunately, I have lived long enough to remember the old Cope's Escudo. Unfortunately, old guys compare all VaPers to that mythic and unobtainable blend. I will try to review St. James Flake on its own merits.

Like all S. Gawith blends, the tobacco and the preparation are first rate.

Even with two hours of drying, it was hard to light. Once lit, it burned slowly and with little fuss. Neither the pipe bowl, nor the smoke, became hot.

In my opinion, most VaPers have so little perique, that is is hard to find. This blend has just the right amount; much more, and it would have been too much. The perique became even more prominent in the second half of the bowl, but in a pleasant way.

This is a "must try" for those who want a smoke that features the perique.

I'm still new to Pipe smoking, so right now I aim for tobacco that is sweet and pleasant on a surface level. After going through my initial batch of 14 different blends (wide variety) I've finally done a second bowl of St. James flake, and it was every bit as satisfying as the first.

It does need to be dried out, left overnight as a flake, less time rubbed out. The flavour is just fantastic, sweet but definitely not overbearing, best with slow puffing, a little spice every once in a while, and it leaves an indescribable pleasant taste in my mouth for hours after the smoke.

I didn't get any "tongue bite" specifically, but by now I've learned to keep the stem away from the tip of my tongue and moving around regularly. I don't think it's big on Nicotine but I would probably have to smoke three bowls in a row to find out (basically all day, which doesn't actually sound like a bad idea at this point). Note: Yes three bowls in a row will put me down.

2016 Note: Over the last two years I've found that my mouth will only tolerate an extremely gentle puffing cadence, and this blend isn't quite compatible with such a slow pace. Even crispy dry I have a hard time keeping St James Flake lit. Especially since the flavour is best with a bit of moisture, some people won't naturally mesh with this blend very well.

The Flake: The flakes come really delicately cut unlike other Samuel Gawith flakes like Firedance, Full Virginia Flake etc., if you looking to smoke a single flake it will not be possible to smoke it folded and stuffed unless you are using a tall slim bowl shape. The flake is quite moist even after a month of being kept in the tin. One word of caution, do not completely dry out this tobacco or you will lose all the taste to bitterness and a very hot bowl.

Preparation: The flakes come really delicately cut unlike other Samuel Gawith flakes like Firedance, Full Virginia Flake etc.I coarsely rub out the tobacco in thin small strands and then let it breathe for 15 minutes or so for optimal burn and taste. The best way to stuff your pipe with St James Flake is Frank's method. The flake when rubbed out is quite sticky, but as you let it breathe for a few minutes, that fermented stickiness goes away.

Charlight: Depending on the moisture content of your flake, it will take 1-2 relights to get this puppy going. The first light greys the flake and the first few puffs are incredibly tangy and mild. Once it gets going it will keep delivering awesome perique goodness balanced with good tobacco till you finish the entire bowl.

The first half: This tobacco is a real treat to VaPer lovers, it touches the mouth and your nose with such delicate caress, no need to retrohale St. James flake ensures all your senses are in total harmony with the fire of the bowl. I advise you to not worry about relights and smoke it semi-dry as totally drying out the flake takes away all the taste from the experience. The smoke is very light in nature when smoking St. James Flake. As a rule with all tobacco, puffing on it hard will make it extremely bitter. Clench your pipe and get your breathing in-sync with the puffing and you are guaranteed the experience of a life time. The perique really comes out in this flake and makes you forget that it has other tobaccos in the mix as well. The virginia plays a second seat and complements the perique greatly. By the time you finish first 1/4th of the bowl, the fruity tangyness with give way for the signature peppery spicyness of perique.

I will stress here that St. James flake is not a Perique bomb but rather a subtle experience which is wonderfully balanced by the guys at Samuel Gawith, which is the reason why that this tobacco is one of the most favoured VaPer flake in the pipe community. Smokingly it slowly and nicely will ensure that you get atleast an hour worth of smoke from a single flake.

By the time you approach the second half of the bowl the light smoke will magically give way to a nice cloud of smoke, you can actually feel the difference as the intensity increases in flavour, room note and strength. Thankfully there is no lakeland essence in this blend and hence its a very pure VaPer blend.

The second half: As you approach the second half of the bowl it is now time to tamp the ash and relight the bowl. You will notice that the taste remains the same unlike many tobacco blends which usually go bland or lose their character when they are approaching their optimal smoke. You will start to notice the virginia in the blend and if you have smoked Full Virginia Flake or Best Brown Flake, it is more or less the same virginia. A very high quality tobacco indeed. However, the aftertaste in the mouth changes from pepper-spice to a little ashy, but fret not bretheren it is barely noticeable and you won't be put off at all by it.

Your nose, still in tobacco heaven will make you see angels and cherubs dance in front of your eyes as the bold flavors of the Saint blow you away. Can I get a Hallelujah please? Church bells will toll and you will experience a full opera conducted by St. James himself.

Climax: By the time you reach at the end of the bowl, you will be blown by the Saint. YOU CANT HATE IT. This tobacco is easily on my Top 10 list for 2014.

A very satisfying smoking experience, it has become a part of my rotation. Trust me, your mouth and your brain will agree with me after you've smoked a few flakes of this wonderful tobacco.

This kind of tobacco is what Gawith does best. If Gawith's marvelous Balkan Flake were my all-day English, St. James Flake would most certainly be my all-day Virginia/Perique blend.

Quality in presentation, appearance, processing, leaf ... all vintage Gawith. The flavor is bold without becoming obnoxious, and the mouthfeel is solid without distracting from the flavor. You know you're smoking, and you know you're smoking something wonderful.

The Virginia portion of this blend strikes me as a combination of the mixture used in Full Virginia Flake and the mixture used in Best Brown Flake or Kendal Plug. This is one savory tobacco.

Hmmm... there's perique in here? Where? Oh, there it is! Or is it? Hmmm....

I find this to more than pass muster as a virginia blend, where it fails as a VaPer, IMHO. The perique is "overwhelmingly subtle" to coin a phrase. I prefer a little more kick to my VaPer blends. Quite frankly, if I didn't know there was perique in this blend, I'd have mistaken it for a Lakeland-style top note that is very faint. Escudo, Davidoff Flake Medallions and the various McClelland blends such as St James Woods and #2015 still rule, as I can taste more of that incredible perique spiciness. This one is good but just lacks that spice kick.

One thing that I must mention about Gawith?s flakes is that I love how they basically fall apart when you take them out of the tin. Now I?ve never mastered the art of folding and stuffing flakes so I always break them up to some degree. Gawith?s flakes seem to be thinner than a lot of flakes and broken flakes (McClelland) and are really, really easy to rub out and pull apart. Because they are thinner, they also seem to dry out a lot faster before smoking them whereas a lot of the other brands take forever!! Another great plus in my book.

As a lover of Gawith?s Full Virginia Flake (FVF), I knew that they had the Virginia blending down to a science but I was curious as to their knowledge of throwing Perique into the mix. Here is how this blend is described:

A sumptuous blend of Virginias and Perique, this big, bold British style flake incorporates a generous proportion of St. James Parish, LA perique.

The tin aroma was typical fruity and spicy, maybe more on the spicy side, which is what I would expect from the description of this VaPer. The Virginia aroma is very reminiscent of FVF and I suspect that they might use a Virginia blend very similar to it. I took out a tin of FVF and gave them both the ?sniff? test and they the Virginias were almost identical.

As stated above, I took a couple of flakes out of the tin and gently rubbed them out and let them dry for about 30 minutes before I loaded up the bowl. It was very easy to light and had a white ash right off of the bat. This blend burns extremely clean, just like FVF. During the smoke, the Perique dances along with the Virginias almost as if to a beat. It comes to the front then goes to the back and so on and so on. It was a great experience!!

Now I am going to go against what most people on tobaccoreviews.com have stated about this blend. A lot of people on here have stated that the Perique quantity in this blend is way over the top and that there is a high level of nicotine in this blend. I did not find either of these statements true for any of the bowls that I smoked of this. And I have smoked two tins so far. While the Perique is noticeable in this blend it does not come to the front and punch you in the face with its strength like other blends (Kajun Kake, Night Train, etc). Also, there is nicotine in here but not anymore than I have experienced in other blends.

This blend is very tasty to me and the price when buying in bulk really can?t be beat. Taste-wise, I enjoyed this more than Escudo. The reason is that the two types of tobacco (Virginia and Perique) seemed to be blended together with more consistency than Escudo. I have smoked Escudo where I almost didn?t have any Perique until I hit the bottom and then it came on too strong. St. James Flake is not like this. The Perique chimes in as if on cue every time. It?s a wonderful blend and will be a staple in my rotation and cellar from now on

A Virginia perique flake that I find to be in a class all its own, and there are quite a few nuances to its flavor. The Virginias are dark and sweet, the perique adds depth, spice and the delicate taste of tart plum. Like Full Virginia Flake, further down the bowl is where St. James Flake shines. The flavors develop substantially and a bit more spice steps forward in the mix. The sweetness deepens as the sugars caramelize and the smoke tingles the senses in a way that only the finest Virginia Perique blends can.

St. James Flake burns cool and consistent with no bite or harsh notes. The smoke is smooth, rich and zesty. The tobacco flavor strength is medium as is the nicotine strength, making this a stand out choice for a morning, mid-day or even a late night pipe. St James Flake does require a bit of dry time and may also require a few extra relights, but the reward is the humble pleasure of smoking one of Sam Gawith’s most outstanding offerings.

Due to the limited availability of SG blends, this review is based on two four year old tins. As a result the dark flakes are covered with sugar crystals! I generally like VaPers well aged and that have that signature sweet, raison/fig like aroma. I lean toward the sweeter VaPers as a rule. St. James, while sweet doesn't taste as sweet as aged Solani 633 or aged Escudo. With that said, St James has a depth of flavor that is really, really good. I have described some of my favorite English blends as having“richness” to the smoke and now I have found a VaPer that has earned that distinction. Complex, deep and rich with full flavor and a wonderful balance between the Virginia and Perique tobaccos, St. James is a winner. Like most of the SG flakes, it arrives too moist and needs dry time. I fully rub it out as I find it tastes best that way. I also favor a smaller bowl, like a group three or smaller with this blend. Well done and highly recommended!

As I opened the tin I wondered if I could just eat it. The dry fruit stripes' appearance of this tobacco has really surprised me. I was very pleased to feast my eyes on this, I must say. This stuff is very sticky and leathery, and you can clearly see the crystallized sugars forming into the grain of this flake. Cut into different sizes and lengths, It all comes bind toguether in a lump due to its moist content, but it is easy to bring it all apart in order to dry it. After the flake was dry enough to be able to smoke it, rubbing and crumbling it was all a woman's work. The tin note is absolutely gorgeous and it looks well aged and cured.

If not properly dried, you'll have a hard time keeping this tobacco lit, so be advised. Also, I recommend leaving this tobacco in your jar, forget all about it, and come back in a week's time: it will have improved considerably (believe you me). This is top notch quality tobacco, but you need to smoke it very slowly in order not to break it. I found this to be true with most tobaccos, but it is a must with all VaPers. The amount of Perique is just right and I find the Virginia simply gorgeous. The tin note is not overwhelmingly strong and rather pleasant. Despite its molasses and sticky appearance, I cannot detect any toppings and I like the fact it will consume very slowly in your bowl if smoked properly. It will evolve in different layers and undertones as you progress in your smoke and I cannot detect any tongue-bite at all. Highly recommended.

I purchased the 250 g box. St James Flake is an amazing Virginia and Périque flake. In no other tobacco in the genre have I encountered such a delicious taste. Being medium brown in colour, it displays aromas of earth and vinegar. Despite it being rather difficult to rub out the long flakes; and despite it being also a bit difficult when trying to keep it going once lit, St James Flake is worth the trouble. A. Strength: Strength refers to the intensity of the nicotine. It's closer to the medium level when smoked fresh and mild to medium; more medium than mild when it has had some time to dry, a few weeks after it has been opened. B. Flavoring: I have suspected, during the first few smokes that it contains some kind of a Plum topping. But I am not so sure anymore. C. Taste: Truly a very enjoyable experience, the earthiness of the well aged Virginias are a dream match with the plum qualities that the Périque releases at first. The taste is creamy and very satisfying. As the tobacco consumes itself the taste will be more earthy and less of plum; to become, towards the last third, on the peppery side. D. Room Note: It is pleasant, definitively noticeable at first, then it tones down. E. Rating: Despite the difficulties of preparation, St James Flake is probably the best Virginia and Périque tobacco I have had the pleasure to enjoy. 3.75 stars; if it wasn't for the preparation issues, I would have granted it 4 stars.

I smoke one pipe each day and I have a fairly limited window of time to do so (90 to 120 minutes between putting the kids to bed and hitting the hay myself). It's important to me that a tobacco smokes well right out of the tin. Unfortunately, St James Flake doesn't quite fit the bill.

I'd like this one a lot more if it weren't so much work. As noted in so many other reviews the tobacco is very moist . I must say that I'm not big on drying tobacco. I find moist tobaccos more flavorful and complex. However, smoking this one right out of the tin is simply not an option - it requires significant drying time before it packs correctly and stays lit. The few times I got the moisture just right, it was a good smoke that reminds me very much of McC's St. James Woods (which I also find "high maintenance". It's a good combination of sweet and spicy with a medium nicotine level.

Overall, a good tobacco but not the right one for me. If you enjoy VaPers and have the time, patience and experience to dry this to the correct moisture, you will enjoy St. James Flake.

SJF is one of the great Virginia-Perique blends in my opinion, right up there with Escudo and McConnell Scottish Cake. There are still a bunch of VaPers that I haven't tried yet, so I can't state definitively where it fits in the overall scheme of things.

I agree with what some other reviewers have already posted, that the flakes need drying and some resting time after opening the tin. My latest batch was a 250g box, which I put into jars and waited a few weeks before smoking.

There is plenty of perique in SJF for me. In fact, sometimes it's a bit more perique than I'm in the mood for and I rub out a flake or two of SJF with a flake of Best Brown, mix it all together and let it dry out some before packing. It works for me, your mileage may vary of course.

Lit gently and smoked slowly, this can be a wonderfully sweet tobacco with the enticing peppery spice that VaPer fans love. I get a sweet flavor that reminds me of honey and figs. However, if you rush it SJF can turn on you quickly with a shocking bitter harshness. Not to worry though, I just set the pipe down, let it cool for a while, relight gently, and it comes back around to being a beautiful smoke again.

SJF is a fine smoke in most of my briars and absolutely sublime in a certain old "Regd. No." Stanwell from the late 1960s. But there are a couple of pipes that I don't dare smoke it in. They just don't get along. Harsh and nasty. Seems to work better in medium and smaller bowls.

I typically enjoy the first 2/3 bowl of SJF a lot more than the last 1/3 if that information helps you at all.

As much as I'd like to give SJF 4 stars because it really is one of my favorites, SJF's fussiness--the drying, the resting, the necessity to smoke it thoughtfully, its refusal to get along with some pipes--merits a slight downgrade.

Being predominantly Latakia blends smoker, I wouldn't go in depth judging this tobacco. I've smoked it somewhat wet, since it comes extremely wet from the tin like all Sam Gawith tobaccos. One time I've put it on a hot plate to heat it and dry it quickly. It resulted in losing a fair amount of it's flavour. Anyway, rubbing it spreading it across the table and letting it dry for 20-30 minutes before smoking does the job. Has to be packed loosely however, and in a narrow bowl pipe. Virginias used are dark, and whoever mentioned that it's Full Virginia Flake with some Perique added, might be just right. Perique adds some sour spiciness, but also mellows the VA and the result is pretty balanced smoke. Maybe too balanced, but that's ok. I've smoked it on cold winter days, and somehow it didn't fit well. This blend would be excellent for the summer. It is fresh, despite the heavy dark virginias. A very good VA/Per, reminds a bit of Three Nuns, but has that recognizable specific Sam Gawith note. Highly Recommended from me.

This is my new bench mark for VA/Pers. It is simply marvelous. It is subtle and a little complex but not overly so. The VA's are sweet with grass/hay notes. There is a topping that must be basically sugar. I mean this is the sweetest VA at 18 months that I have ever smoked. This does not take away from the smoke at all. I like my VA's sweet and whatever this is does that very well without adding additional foreign elements to the smoke. The perique is lightly spicy and I assume that the deep dark fruit like sweetness comes from here (think plums and raisins). It does not bite and it can be smoked all day. The sweetness lingers on my palate for hours making me want to reach for it again and again. This will have to be bought in bulk from now on because I think I am going to be through pounds of this one.

I notoriously have a low tolerance for Perique. I like its taste, but in high doses it makes my head spin. I was somewhat fearing for the worst here, considering SG's reputation for stout virginia flakes and the presence of Perique... and yet, I was wrong.

This is a medium-strength tobacco, maybe even lighter than medium, and Perique is very sparingly applied. So sparingly that even I can say that a little more would have been much appreciated!

The result is a bit underwhelming: it's similar to Best Brown Flake... but not as interesting, juicy and rich. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it: even if the flakes come a bit moist and gummy out of the tin, they rub out splendidly and burn regularly. No tonguebite, a very even and relaxing experience. On quality of the product I would be tempted to give a "Recommended" rating... The problem is that I have several much more interesting flakes at hand (Rattray's Marlin Flake, Ashton's Old London, SG's own Brown Flake), and this one doesn't offer anything more... and actually something less in terms of complexity, richness, interesting development. And hey, if you call it St James Flake, I expect to taste Perique a bit more: in this department, the McClelland similarly named flake is a much more interesting example.

So... a good but not great tobacco, with absolutely no faults at all except that there are so many better choices around. But this tin was a pleasant experience that I certainly won't complain about.

St. James Flake seems to be Full Virginia Flake with some Perique added. As my first virginia/perique blend, I didn't quite know what to expect. I didn't find the perique to be very strong, noticeable, but not strong. For me, it wasn't strong enough to justify smoking something other than FVF. The virginia's in SJF are just as good in quality as the one's in FVF though...

Like my tin of FVF, SJF needed to be dried for 12-24 hours before smoking, because it was rather wet out of the tin. I also had better luck smoking it by fully rubbing it out.

EDIT After opening the tin I set some aside to for around 9 months. It's a much more enjoyable blend now.

A true gem. It is exceedingly subtle, and i lose the best parts of this blend when i do anything but pack it with care, after drying sufficiently, into an appropriate pipe and smoke consciously slowly and unhurriedly. I generally shy away from blends that require such thought, but the mellow flavor i get from this one makes it worth the effort when i have the requisite time and patience. Flake is standard for the house: thick, and damp. I give SG flakes about an hour or 2 out of the tin spread flat on a paper plate to breathe, then jar. I rub one prior to loading and leave it sit for some moments before loading loosely. With this relatively short dry time i still usually require a cleaner midsmoke, but that doesn't bother me much. I agree with some who identify the va content here as the constituents of fvf and best brown. The perique is mild, sweet, with pepper present. The entire experience can be characterized as an earthy, thin bodied, ferment-sweet with carmelized mushroom. Hard to describe. The virginia is absolutely exquisite. The perique is, too. But it is so ineffable, so tantalizingly there but not there, that it takes a good deal of effort for me to not puff to catch the flavor i glimpse, thereby losing it for good. Fans of Gawith aged virginias will appreciate this greatly. I don't know that favoring vapers would necessarily qualify one to enjoy this, but i think it is certainly worth trying it to see if you find the magic here. A four star offering, without question. Magic is real.

Another one I posted a few years back, when I first started doing reviews. Having re-read, deciding I can do better, I thought I'd re-post.

When I opened this particular tin I found a nice surprise: one or two pleasing crystals had formed. The flakes themselves are quite dark, slightly thick, and as always with Sam G' they're saturated.

The smoke.....oh, the smoke! This is what I call a heavy VaPer; heavy with Perique! It masks most of the Virginias character, I mainly get the Dark Fruit, and a little bread, from the Perique. The Virginia has to be looked for, diligently, otherwise it might be missed, and when it's found I get calm hay instead of sharp grass/citrus. The burn's good, providing it's been properly aired, and also I've noticed it goes better if it's been loaded into the bowl a little loosely. If I smoke a few bowls voraciously, in quick succession, it can bite, but for regular all-day smoking it's fine.

The room-note's on the heavier side of pleasant, and the nicotine veers toward strong.

Va/per's are easily my favorite blends, and this is one I have been dying to try for ages now. Because of where I live in Europe, it's really hard to find Samuel Gawith blends. So when I saw a few tins of this at my local tobacconist, I picked them up without hesitation.

I really, really love my Va/per blends, so I was really looking forward to this, as I've always been a fan of Gawith as well. FVF is one of my favorites, and Firedance Flake is another one that I really enjoy as well, despite being an aromatic. So I went home and cracked open a tin almost immediately.

I've been smoking Dunhill and Solani blends for the past year and pretty much nothing else. So I've gotten a bit spoiled in regards to cut and moisture content out of the tin. St. James Flake comes pretty moist, but not as moist as I remember my previous Gawith experiences in the past. I let a few flakes dry a bit before I loaded my first bowl. I never microwave or heat my flakes or anything like that. I just let them dry on a tray on my desk for about 20 minutes. Never heat tobacco to dry it.

Loading up was simple enough. However, even after sufficient drying, the tobacco is a real pain to light. And it's an even bigger pain to keep lit. This is a bit tough because as with most, if not all, Va/per blends you want to keep the tobacco as cool as possible, so you don't want to be puffing too hard and constantly having to relight. That said, when it gets going, it's pretty much okay. But obviously nowhere near as easy to maintain as a Dunhill blend like Elizabethan Mixture or something like that.

I have always been a big fan of Perique, and I always wished in the back of my mind that blenders would include more of it in their Va/per blends. Well, careful for what you wish for, I guess, because St. James Flake is a Perique bomb. So much so that it masks the flavor of the Virginia's in there. There can be too much of a good thing, and I appreciate this flake for teaching me that yes, there is such thing as too much Perique, and yes, the blenders at Solani who make 633 are absolutely masterful with how they craft that tobacco, because the balance in 633 is downright perfect.

St. James Flake is still enjoyable, but to me it can't compare with Solani 633, Davidoff Flake Medallions or Escudo. I'd rather smoke any of those when my Va/per fix kicks in. It's hard to light and maintain, and at a certain point it just becomes too much work. It is flavorsome, I'll give it that, but it's more on the murky side - it's not a bright tobacco by any means. It's more of an autumn/winter smoke. I have a few unopened tins which I have put to the side - perhaps they will mellow out and get better with age. Because right now, there is a raging demon inside of these tins.

Virginia/Perique blends are my favorite and this is one of the best VaPers I smoked. As so common with Samuel Gawith, these flakes come very moist and you need to deal with them properly if you want good experience. Once you do, it is rich in taste, it burns cool, it is smooth, it doesn't bite, there is no harshness. All in all it is a very satysfying smoke. If you like VaPers and you have not tried this one yet, you need to go to priest and confess.

As I always visit this website before choosing a new tobacco to try and find the reviews very helpful, I thought, I might as well contribute to this page. So this is my first review and here it goes. The candidate is Samuel Gawith's St. James Flake and I strongly recommend this blend to anyone looking for a Va/Per with a considirable but not at all too high amount of perique in it.

Preparation / Handling: No surprises here, meaning the tobacco arrives in a rather moist and leathery condition. I am aware that the condition of SG flakes is an issue to some pipe smokers because it always requires a little time to prepare and can often not be simply smoked right of the tin. I myself like to smoke SG flakes mainly on the weekends or after work in the late evening. It sort of forces you to calm down, take your time and really focus on and appreciate the tobacco... At least I tell myself that and it really helps me to enjoy the preparation part also! I usually rub the flakes out into a sort of thicker ribbons and let them dry on a small plate for about 30 mins. It's still quite moist then still, but I find that the tobacco tastes a bit more flavourful on the wet side. As other blends made by SG it needs attention while smoking to keep the tobacco lit but it's not bad at all. When I first started smoking SG flakes (may first was Navy Flake, also recommended!) I got a bit frustrated because I was quite new to pipe smoking and just managed to smoke some ribbon cuts right down to the bowl. So this was a setback, but I learned that with some tobaccos it is no shame at all to have to relight it a couple of times. With St James Flake, I find that it's rather easy to handle and doesn't require more than 2 relights, if any. Once lit and smoked slowly, it burns down really cool and doesn't seem to even have the ability to burn hot or cause tongue bite.

Taste: With Dunhill Deluxe Navy Rolls as one of my very favourite tobaccos, I was quite biased when trying this. Exceeded all expectations! The darker and yeasty virgnias offer a strong yet balanced natural sweetness. I've heard a comment saying it feels like a "sugar coating" in one's mouth but I do not agree. To me it is at no time too sweet and I almost exclusively enjoy natural English blends. The perique adds perfectly to this with a taste of plums and dried figs that (to my taste) is even more present than in the DNR. Though, the overall taste might be a little "lighter" and not quite as dark and intense as DNR and certainly a little lower in nicotine.

Room Note: I myself find the room note very pleasent and reminiscent of freshly baked bread and again dark fruit. Eventhough, I don't dare to rate this "Pleasant" as - while I was typing this - my girlfriend just got up from the table to fully open the balcony door...

Conclusion: Samuel Gawith is perhaps the best supplier of quality virginias out there, in my opinion. The addition of a rich dose of perique makes for a VaPer that is simply outstanding; I have yet to be disappointed by it. If you like VaPers you need to try this.

Taste: The perique is a player of great influence here, evident from the start. The mix of virginias and perique make for a sweet and spicy mix that brings forth a tingle in mouth and nose. There is also a bit of freshly baked bread to be noted, hints of grass and a profound sweetness. It's a rich bouquet of flavours, but the overall taste is that of sweet black pepper. It is delicious.

Mechanics: Flake cut, comes wet and needs some drying. Nicotine on the higher end of medium. No bite.

Easily ranks among the best Va/Pers in the market at a very affordable price. You feel ancient England in the smoke, even though the Virginia and Perique are produced in America. The secret of this blend is the subtle balance between strength and taste, and the sort of natural sugar implied in the Virginias is really first class quality and is equally a good source for energy. Highly recommended in the early morning, after having eaten a healthy breakfast. For me, tobaccos that good serve as catalysts for ensuring both healthy longevity and matchless enjoyment in taste and habit. Again, very highly recommended.

This flake is unique!when you open it you get spices, pepper and fruits.has a bit moist but once i dried it it became flat.so rub it and light it instantly with a little effort.the spices are dominant and they are presented with sweetness and a bit grass.very balanced taste burns medium.the nicotine level is low to medium so it's an all day blend to me.definitelly amust try for va/per lovers!

So you like Perique and VaPers, eh? Well, this is your new benchmark and quite a kick in the ass. Not unlike a McClelland, SJF is moist out of the tin with thick flakes that are a bit of a chore to rub out, but let it dry, be patient and sip with reasonable cadence.

It starts out fairly mellow, but then alights to a tangy, peppery, tart and full-bodied smoke that pairs best with a hearty dram. Delivers a nice dose of Vitamin N and a single flake will last an hour. I don't get any Lakeland essence but rather a light, coffee casing that burns off quickly. Best in class and an evolution of FVF.

This is a thick blend. The tobacco is quite fat and greasy at the touch. Perique is quite well identified. It is not easy to light it up and keep it lit up. A bit strong, but not really too much. Coffee taste. Quite some tar.

I am not a novice to the pipe and have been exploring the Va/pers extensively over the last several years and have tried most all of them. I must say that I have narrowed it down to S.G. St. James Flake as being my all time desert island favorite if I had to choose only one. All of the other reviewers that gave this four stars have described this perfectly. I can't imagine anyone doing any better with a Va/Per than S.G. has with St. James Flake. I think it has even the infamous Escudo beat by far. I use a large 3/4 bent GBD pipe with a 7/8" bore and near two inch deep bowl. I allow the flake to just air dry overnight and fold and stuff the entire flake. There is enough room in the bowl that the top of the flake is near even with the top of the bowl and the bowl is large enough that it leaves ample room around the flake for air circulation and heat expansion. I have been able to keep one flake smoldering for an hour and half or longer. Very tasty!

Very nice tasting flake. The Perique seems to have more fruitiness than spice and that's ok here because it taste so good. The Virginias are sweet hay and earth. The end result is delicious. My tin wasn't as wet as I expected from some of the other reviews and did not really require any drying time. This is first class tobacco. Highly recommended.

Medium in body. Medium to full in taste. There may be a very mild sweet topping here. It's hard to tell, but I'm gonna say there is. Burns pretty well. Will need a relight or two. Smoked the same in cob and briar.

Somewhere perhaps, there are old master codgers who have worked out how to prepare this tobacco, and which pipe to smoke it in, in order to have a trouble free smoke. I am not one of them.

The thin loose flakes are very moist, greasy in fact, and cannot be rubbed out properly by hand. Used in this form I had to battle to keep the bowl alight, to ensure adequate draught, and, consequently, to get any reasonable volume of smoke going. In this form however, whereby the tobacco was barely alight, it was possible to get a good 'look' at its flavour profile. Accordingly, this might be a legitimate way to smoke this tobacco. I found it very frustrating, and in desperation, resorted to cutting the flakes against the grain to produce a sort of small cube cut. Gravity fed into the bowl it cut my relights down to 3 and when going properly, produced some lovely, creamy smoke.

This is essentially a matured Virginia flake in the British old school style. It has some nice lemon overtones, kicked off I think by some bergamot in the casing, and underpinned by a creamy licorice undertone.

The perique marries well with these Virginias and presents as a spicy pepperiness and an effervescence on the tongue. Retrohaling further reveals the smokiness of the perique.

This is a very different take on the VaPer to something like Dunhill Navy Rolls, the latter being very clean and elegant. SJF is darker and less refined, more working class if I might say so. That isn't a bad thing at all, but personally I would prefer this as a straight Virginia without the casing, and I honestly think the perique is wasted here. Having said that this is a valuable survivor in the British Flakes genre and anyone disappointed by weakling Virginias or overcased Lakeland type entries will find a place for this tobacco.

If you're into VaPers, you definitely should try this one. Rich mature red Virginias combined with a good amount of Perique for a full taste, robust smoke. High on the Perique side, SJF is not too bitter nor too sweet, a nice balance for those who enjoy Virginias and VaPers.

I can ditto most of the comments already made of those who highly recommended this blend. If you like blends with Perique you should enjoy this flake. There is no question that SG produces the finest flakes available. St James Flake reminds me of Knoxville Cigar Company's Laurel Flake, which is made by Gawith, one of my favorite smokes; I am tempted to believe they are the same blend.

Based on one of the reviews below I smoked this without rubbing it out, drying it for 30 minutes prior to lighting, and smoking it in a #4 size pipe. Rather than tamping I've found loosening the surface with a pick between lights facilitates smoking.

All-in-all, a nice flake.

August 19,2008 update: This tobacco ages nicely. With age, more mellow and sweet.

It sounds crazy but I would leave this stuff in a jar for a year before you try to smoke it. Even then it doesn't behave great, but at least it's smokeable. If you try to smoke this fresh it will be hot air. After a year I can dry it out for about 20 min and I able to get a decent smoke. There is a slight topping, it always reminds me of apricots. But it stays nicely in the background. Then you have a sweet va, and a decent dose if perique. I think it smokes mild/ medium for most of the bowl until maybe the last third when the taste really picks up. This jar I'm smoking is about a year old. I really think it needs a couple more years to become complex. It's not boring but it's pretty basic after about a year.

I really appreciate Samuel Gawith and his mixtures, but this is not my Va/Pe. Difficult to smoke, very complex, certainly rich in nuances but too laborious. In my opinion a complicated and not very clean taste. I don’t know if the Perique is pure St. James or Acadian (I think the first one because the taste is quite different than Acadian), but, on the whole, there is something that doesn’t work.

By the way, there are two kind of Perique on the market: the straight and pure St. James Perique (100% Perique) is really rare and difficult to find, while Acadian Perique (Kentucky Green River Burley mixed with the St. James tobacco) is most commonly used to make Perique. Most mixtures employ the Acadian Perique, but I believe in this mixture there is the straight St. James (and this is a plus).

Finally another flaw is that this mixture is too moist. So, on the whole, it doesn’t convince me. At the moment, in my personal rating system (from 1 to 10) my score is 7 and two stars. Probably in the future I’ll give it another chance (it’s so difficult to find a mixture with pure St. James perique).

I found this tin in a stack of random tins I bought 8 years ago. Upon opening, the initial tin note was a blast of the best smell I have ever smelled. The flakes were crystalized with Plume, the Perique seemingly completely assimilated into the Virginia's which seem to have fermented and deepened. Simply fantastic, sweet, sour, figgy... the smoke has no bite whatsoever. Simply as good as tobacco gets. After a month open, the tin still gives that wonderful smell every time I open it for my once a week pipe.

Great Vaper,good real tobacco taste all the way,the perique is masterly blended- I do prefer dark virginias,but this one is a big exeption. some plum notes all the way but not at all overpowering, rubbed out and let it dry for 8 minutes....Go ahead,try it with a cup of coffe!

I don't know why it's taken me so long to write up my thoughts on this flake but sometimes I just forget to sing my praise of some old favorites. This one is definitely a favorite and I consider it to be one of the finest VaPer's on the market. This will give you low base notes with some sharpness from the Perique. It's of the yeasty bready kind of flavors rather than the light hay like notes you would find in lighter VaPer's. I enjoy dark flakes and low notes and this one satisfies on every level. The flakes are packed ready to smoke, especially in the box and that is usually uncommon with Samuel Gawith tobaccos, I've smoked a lot of this and have never had to dry it before I load up and I like my tobaccos dry because I get a lot more flavor that way. These flakes will age with grace but require no cellar time to produce an amazing smoke. Nicotine level is just about medium so this is perfect for all day smoking. I just can't praise this one enough!

I like St. James Flake. It is something about it that puts me in a good mood, a good review mood. With the risk of generalizing, when it comes to the nic effect, I like to think that there are basically two categories of baccies, those that make you a bit dull and tired and those that perk up your senses. This could all be very relative and might vary for every individual pipe smoker. But for me, SJF belongs to the latter category. It is an inspirational smoke, and, that is a quality that I value in its own right. Maybe, the combination with coffe helps. And if you are, like me, a fan of Delta blues, I really recommend sipping on this while listening to Son House. A nice leisure summer day, a good cup of coffe (or a sweet cold fruit juice is also nice), Son House in the background and SJF in the pipe - yeah, that's it!

Ok, I'm digressing a bit from the standard type of review. But there are plenty of descriptions for you to read. But, what stands out with SJF is its smootheness. Yes, the peppary streangth of the perique is definetly felt, but the virginias are so smooth with subtle complexity, no harschness, smokes dry all the way down, and, ideally, no bite. But it needs drying, I dryed the flakes for at least three hours. If you don't dry it properly you might have to struggle a bit, with risk of tounge bite.

I also recommend the review by Corey Mac, written with an imaginative palate. For me, this is a blues kind of smoke, it stands firm on the earth, it is a mature smoke, some heaviness and streangth to it, but also at the same time it has that smooth lightness that lifts your spirit by sheer refinement and enjoyment. Also, when I left half a finished bowl only to return to it the next day more than 12 h later it was just as good!

I bought this from a seller that sells portions of bulk. But I presume the tin and bulk is the same, so I added my review to this list.

When you open a tin and stick your nose in there you get a sweet smell similar to figs. This flake requires a looooooooooong drying time. I've smoked it by folding the flakes and rubbing the flake out. Both ways are fine, but you get a slightly sweeter taste when you fold. The perique gives you a more of a fruity taste than pepper, but it's slightly peppery near the end. If you sip your pipe you get a nice sweet taste from the Virginias. I think this will not be an everyday smoke for me due to its drying time.

As with Chocolate Flake, I bought St. James Flake in the 250gram box which contains a plastic zip-closure pouch which is permeable by air. Bear notice to the caveat emptor: ‘sold subject to loss by evaporation 250g’. So in truth as far as moisture is concerned you’re buying a pig in poke… Mine came in just the right moisture level to smoke straight away and jar immediately.

Pouch aroma was of sweet fermented tobacco with a citric fruit touch and a faint pungent vinegary note. On closer inspection each individual flake has a grassy aroma as well.

Now it’s easy to fold, load and light. As far as smoking behavior is concerned the flakes I received are excellent – they need almost no relight and burn fully leaving no dottle. However I found it difficult to just sip; the amount of smoke produced is huge… This does not mean that it buns quickly, it just produces abundant smoke. Strength is medium with a healthy dose of nicotine. The mouthfeel is smooth and creamy and has a bitter-sweet flavor. I think I detect some molasses or licorice casing but it may be just the effect of the Perique on the blend. The sweetness can be described as fruity - imagine dried plums. As I said the fruitiness comes either from a casing or from the Perique which in either case is not pungently spicy in this blend.

It’s not my favourite Samuel Gawith flake, as I prefer the earthier, ‘browner’ and more natural taste of other let’s say FVF or the cool scent of Kendal Cream, to St. James Flake ‘blacker’ taste, but St. James is definitely a four star tobacco.

--Based on a whim after smoking a bowl, I thought it would pair well with Tabak Manil's La Brumeuse, I mixed them both and I liked it a lot, I suggest you try it, if you have both, and like me you got bored after the initial excitement with La Brumeuse and don't know what to do with it...

It needs some drying time for a pleasant experience with this flake. Once lit (and dry at the right point), it burns clean and slowly, and brings you a great creamy smoke which requires some relights nevertheless. The aroma in tin was deep fermented fruity and spicy. The flavour is fine: sweet and soft. The amount of Perique is just right. One note about the way of charge the bowl: rub out the tobacco in thin small strands.

I like St. James Flake a lot! It has just enough to Perique to make the smoke earthy and keep it very, very interesting without giving your tongue the sparkles. I rubbed this flake out, I haven't tried folding and stuffing it yet because as with a lot of Samuel Gawith's stuff, it tends to be pretty damp! So I rub this out and let it dry for around an hour, then I tear up the strands pretty well. It packs pretty easily using this method and stays lit well. The Perique in this flake keeps the smoke cool and dry!

Light up! This is a very subtly complex smoke. Very, very earthy. Minerals, like when you dig a hole in a shady spot in your back yard, wet earth, with all the roots and bugs and small stones and things unknown and unseen living in it. Have you ever walked down the sidewalk when the sprinklers hit it? It's kinda like that too. Walking through the woods with all the decomposing leaves and stuff. Warm wood in the sun. Wine barrel staves. Only slight sugar from the Virginias. Machine grease, motor oil, some tar, tire rubber and new electronics. Slight sweetness like green fig. Not green fig itself, just the sweetness you get from eating them, sorta light. Lettuce. Ha! That's really weird!! This flake reminds me of walking in the woods in San Luis Obispo, near where I live, it's kinda coastal. Some furniture polish with a slight, slight asphalt note. Very, very slight herbal quality that I can't yet put my finger on. Graphite, pencil shavings and some wet cork. Yay!!

There's a reason that Samuel Gawith is so legendary, besides being a really, really old producer. After more than 200 years, They still got it!

Picked up a tin in Strasbourg, France, and smoked it in the shadow of the EU bureaucracy. It was wonderful - somehow the flake presentation brought out the best of the perique punchiness. I'm not sure if, after this, I'll be able to go back to the pure Virginia flake. There was just too much going on that I'd miss. Close finish between this and Navy Escudo Deluxe in the VaPer olympics.

Wow....Great flake! The tin aroma is rich, dark fruit and raisin and some hay. It is rather moist, even after drying for half an hour. The good thing is this is one of the coolest burning Va's I ever had which is nice as I tend to over puff, especially when the tobacco is moist. This one is so pleasurable. I can;t wait until I can smoke some after it has dried some and there are not so many relights. Still even with all the work, this is a nice, rich Va flake.

Update:

Every time I smoke this blend, I love it even more. Such a full flavored Va Per, yet so cool burning. It's impossible to NOT enjoy.

Shortly after finishing off the sample reviewed below, I ordered a 250g box of this. I immediately set some aside to age and had the rest in a big jar that I just finished yesterday. I almost neglected looking at this review because I knew I had already reviewed it and could swear I gave it four stars.

Well, I am glad that I revisited this and I clearly did not have a big enough sample, because this is now one of my favorite VaPers. In general, I must say that Sam Gawith is the Virginia masters, so it stands to reason that a Vaper produced by them would be great. This blend is sweet and it is spicy. It is everything a vaper should be. If there is any criticism, it would be the same common to all SG flakes in that it is a little hard to light. Once it gets going though, it is just fantastic.

Original Review 6-23-2014

I had a healthy amount of this sent to me by a forum member who disliked the blend. This particular person does not like Perique in large quantities. This blend is a little heavy on the perique which suits my tastes well. I find this blend a lot like Fillmore by GL Pease in that regard.

The Virginia is sweet, but can be overwhelmed by the Perique at times. I do like this blend and will likely reorder, but I don't think it rises to four stars as I would prefer to smoke Fillmore or even, Dunhill's Elizabethan to this blend. I think the latter two have much better balance between the Virginia and the Perique.

This blend is definitely not for the beginner or someone seeking a Vaper for the first time.

Yet another fine flake from SG. Sweet and subtle tin note. Nice beige flakes with brown streaks. Crystalline formations along the lines. I was lucky to find a sealed aged tin. I think the aging must make this a smooth smoker. I hand rubbed the entire tin to relieve moisture and find it a one light smoke after gravity feeding, charring, tamping and lighting. The top third of the bowl is rather nice with a mild sweetness and a wonderful aroma. Mid bowl is a bit better but the bottom third is where I find this flake to comes alive. Sipping, rolling round my tongue and exhaling through my nose lets me get the most from this flake. There is a lot to be said about these flakes that are flavoured through aging rather than chemicals. Smooth. Moderately mellow and a genuine joy to smoke. Recommended

Virginia and Perique the two soul mates in tobacco blending join together once again in St. James Flake. And what a relationship it turned out to be in the beautiful blend. Some have commented on it's closeness to the "King of VaPer" the esteemed Escudo. I too have to agree with that comparison and when this mixture is dried to nearing brittle but not too close it shines like the rising sun on the wake of an Atlantic sea. Deep, powerful, stewing in plum, raisin, and fig delivering always a truly remarkable experience. A companion for each of us with unconditional loyalty. Three cheers for SJF!!!

As usual, like the other many SG flakes, needs to be aired well enough and rubbed how you like. Even if the perique addition is high, the nice natural virginia sweetness of high quality SG flakes is considerable here. The only thing you have to do is to smoke this stuff when you are relaxed and with attention. The play of the perique and virginia is awesome.

This tobacco has a very nice tin aroma. Dark fruits and a surprising note reminiscent of Junior Mints (an American confection). The smoke is very easy on the tongue and can be puffed a bit more than other VA's I smoke. the Perique is well balanced and quite complimentary. This blend can be smoked a bit wetter than FVF with a good burn. The dark fruits carry over to the taste making this a good smoke when you feel like something sweet and spicy. I would pair this with a small batch bourbon.

I realize my taste sensations may not be those of the average briar enthusiast.

However, S.Gs St James is in my sort of humble opinion like the Milky Way of VAPERS.

It has this really delicious caramel flavor derived completely from the tobaccos and not some artificial topping.

Others have compared it to Escudo (good luck finding that anywhere nowadays) and I would agree with most of those comparisons. Escudo: 10, St James: 8.

When all is said and done, and youve laid down your hard or easily earned money, you wont regret your purchase of this quality tobacco. I bought 4ozs as a trial, and will be receiving a pound in a few days. I really like it.

This is a budget Escudo! The taste is very similar... not quite equal to Escudo perfection but its bulk price point carries it over the top. Highly recommended to VAPER lovers and crazed hording fanatics!

In a fit of paranoia, paroxysms of fed fear, I bought a buttload of tobacco to cellar in the beginning of March. I don?t know why exactly, the pipe tobacco tax is going up maybe a buck fifty a pound, sure it?s hundred and some percent increase, but still? Anyhow, among the tins I bought to cellar, I picked up four ounces of St. James Flake in bulk, in a large part because of the reviews on here. The positive ones. Funny thing that, I ignore the negative ones when I?m planning on getting a tobacco anyhow.

This came very moist in the bag, long dark thin flakes, with a strong peppery perique scent. I rubbed one flake out just to make it dry quicker, when they are a bit drier I?ll probably try just folding a flake into a pipe. I eyeballed the flake and figured it would fill my Castello billiard, in between a Dunhill group four and five, perfectly. Even if I was wrong I wouldn?t admit it, but it was a real good guess, one flake is about a pinch more than a group 4. It still took the better part of an hour to dry enough to smoke.

Once dried it was an impressive smoke, assertive, flavorful, tasty. It?s a little heavier with perique than most factory blends out there, except when I?ve added perique to a Virginian I like I can?t remember having smoked a VA/Per as Per heavy. That?s not saying much, I?ve smoked maybe ten factory made Va/Per. In this blend it works well. Though I haven?t had a Gawith blend I didn?t like, I don?t consider their regular Virginians as real high end, or not in the same class as say Rattrays or Reiners. This is a perfect blend for them, a great balance between the Virginians and the perique bringing out the full flavor of both. Am considering ordering another pound before it shoots up another buck and a half (it?s a weak excuse, but any excuse to stock up on good tobacco is a good one).

Maybe it?s a bad idea to review a tobacco after just one bowl but I think of first impressions as the best. So far I haven?t needed to go back and edit a review, my opinion remaining pretty static, although, honestly, I haven?t tasted some of the Dunhill blends I?ve reviewed since they switched from Murrays to Orlik for the American export.

Four stars for St James flake, a heavier perique VA/Per, good solid, bold smoke.

This is a review of the bulk flake. It has all been said before. One of my top three favorite VApers...Escudo, St. James, Dunbar.

07/27/09 UPDATE: I am revising some of my reviews. I have given out more 4 star ratings than anything else. That practice is probably not helping. So, I am reducing SJF to 3 stars, not because I like it less than I did before, but because I am limiting 4 stars to fewer than 25% of all my reviews. One day I may use the 4 star rating to designate my top five.

08/22/09 UPDATE: I found a pipe last month that is especially suited for smoking VApers. I have rotated several blends in this pipe, and for me bulk St. James Flake aged a year stands above the rest. I think it contains superior Virginias that are sweeter and present a greater range. The perique is tastier and more pronounced. Some VApers are near unidimensional in comparison. This is my King-O-VApers. Thus, it goes back to 4 stars.

One of the older blends that I miss is the original Escudo but I have to admit that SG's St. James Flake is as good, if not better. It is, however, smoother without that Escudo "zest" and never seems to bite. The distinctive perique taste and flavor becomes more apparent as the smoke goes on, but doesn't dominate. St. James is particularly enjoyable when alternated with pipefuls of good English and/or Balkan blends. If there is a better va/perique blend out there somewhere, I would love to hear about it. Right now, it is definitely my favorite in this category.

This is an excellent blend. I have found that smoking it in my Big Ben nose warmer with a 9mm filter suits it nicely, and allows me to smoke a bit more vigorously.

My blend was dry and I crushed it in a tobacco crusher. This creates a lot of edges which burns very well. I gravity fed the bowl slightly tamping it down. Lighting it was a breeze. The blend burned cool. Would work as an all day smoke.

Perique being my favorite spicing tobac, I found this to be a nicely blended mix. I can't say that it was too strong like other reviewers experienced.

It's a bit difficult for me to compare this to other vaper blends. More mild than Escudo and Solani 633, having with an identity of it's own. Who would expect less from S. Gawith and company?

No need to add anything to the many fine reviews on this blend. Taste is a very personal issue and for me SJF is an excellent smoke. I rank it right up with Escudo Navy Deluxe. If you enjoy Vapers, this one is certainly worth a try.

This is one great tobacco! Not for everyone, I'm sure, but for me, this is wonderful stuff.

Samuel Gawith's flakes are, as a group, among my very favorite tobaccos. They are no-messing-around, straight-forward, full-flavored good ol' tobacco. I love a good straight Virginia, and to me there's no better Virginia than SG's Full Virginia Flake. The Virginia in St James Flake is very similar to FVF and to Best Brown Flake (which are actually the same tobacco, the only difference being the length of time they are steamed and pressed). So you take the best Virginia in the world and add a generous helping of perique from St James Parish, Louisiana, and St James Flake is what you end up with.

I'm a self-proclaimed Freak for Perique, loving blends like Butera's Kingfisher, Dan's Limerick, Cornell & Diehl's Kajun Kake & Haddo's Delight (which is a little more nuanced and less straight-forward than I usually prefer my tobaccos), and the highly-esteemed Escudo (though to me, it could actually use a little more perique). Not McClelland's St James Woods, though, because it smells/tastes like McClelland ketchup.

Well, if you like perique, this blend delivers. Perique is used skillfully and successfully as a condiment tobacco in all manner of blends, but if you want to try the simple, frank VA/Per experience, this is what it's supposed to taste like. St James Flake, to me, is the quintessential Virginia/perique flake. The perique is not as overwhelming to me as it is in Kajun Kake, but it definitely is the primary flavor in this blend. It's spicy, musty, tangy, wonderful stuff that delivers a good healthy dose of "Vitamin N." So, if you're an inexperienced smoker or overly sensitive to the effects of nicotine, this is one I'd smoke with caution. It's not an all-out nic-bomb, but it is strong.

I give it 4 stars because of how excellent it is, not necessarily as a recommendation, because this much perique or this much strength in a tobacco is not going to be for everyone.

If you allow this to age six months or more in its sealed tin, it becomes sublime, an excellent VA/PER. I have found that it is also necessary to allow the flakes at least 20 minutes drying time before loading your pipe; I don't roll out this tobacco but simply fold and stuff the flakes whole into the bowl. I smoke St. James Flake in smaller bowls (size 3 to small 4) and it seems to really shine in Peterson system pipes - as if the Peterson pipes and this blend were made for each other. No bite at all, small sips and very very sweet full virginia flavor with the spice of perique - this tobacco is worth taking your time with for better enjoyment. My wife does not care for the room note, particularly on light-up, but once the pipe is fully lit, the note settles down and so does my wife. Nicotine rarely affects me (except high doses make me sleepy) and this tobacco merely relaxes me; so I suspect this has a substantial amount of nicotine per bowl.

This review is for the bulk version. Very nice, medium dark-brown, leathery virginia - perique flakes, which show the sparkle of tiny little crystals if held in the sunlight. Can burn down consistently to a pepper and salt ash. Smoking characteristics depend on packing and smoking style. Rubbing out the flake and smoking at a relaxed pace works best for me.

Rich, tasty and spicy aroma with sweet undertones. Hmm, undertones is an understatement. It can get pretty sweet at times and I get the impression of flavours like anise, liquorice and honey. I am wondering, how it would go along with a glas of anise liqueur.

The perique presents itself tingly, peppery and nicely, without being overwhelming, or obtrusive. High in nicotine. Soothing and very satisfying. No tongue bite, no gurgle.

In my opinion a honest and delicious smoke, if you like sweet virginia-perique flakes and know how to smoke them. The smoke get's harsh and bitter easily, if you are in a hurry, so it has a somehow educating effect on me. It says: "Slow down, relax, enjoy!"

This flake definately is something to be savoured.

Edit: After almost 9 years I am smoking a bowl of this in a Vauen 526. Still great!

Great VaPer here even fresh. I got a 250g box jarred up the bulk of it to age and kept some for now. The flakes are big, moist and thick. The flakes need to rubbed out and dried out a bit before packing your pipe other wise you have a big sticky tobacco ball in your pipe that you will never be able to kept lit. The tin note is of fresh cut grass, hay, sugar and plums. With age I am sure a more fermented tang will also develop. The smoke is clean, fresh and not over-powering. I get earthy sweetness, slight tangy fruit notes and a tiny bit of pepper. The perique level is perfect for me. With age I suspect it will become more full and creamy. SG St James flake is not a smoke to rush through. It is best to smoke it slow to savor all the flavor. No hint of bite at all and leaves a nice after taste. For me this flake produced one of my top 10 Nirvana smokes. A great relaxing awesome smoking experience. Good Stuff

While I do enjoy VaPers from time to time this was too much peppery Perique for me. I liked the original versions of Elizabethan, Three Nuns, Escudo, as well as current VaPers such as Solani 633. I have not tried GLP Haddo's yet, suspecting it will be not to my liking due to the strong Perique presence. I don't have an aversion to Perique--I want to know it's in there, just not to a degree where it is so to the fore, especially when paired with only Virginia. For me this is perhaps 1 to 2 stars as i really don't like it, but as that is personal preference and it is not a bad tobacco, i'll go with 3.

St. James Flake is one of the best Va/Pers available to my personal taste. From the first bowl I was blow away by its rather simple, but genuine and full taste.

The flakes break apart very easy, which hints towards that no glue has been used. But I'm not sure about that. Rather bright brown with golden and yellow speckles. Tin smell is deep fermented-like and toast with fruity notes of figs, plum raisins and lots of what I perceive as tangerine like. Gentle spice can be aknowledged. Already hints of sugary-molasses in the smell. Very appetizing presentation and smell!

For a Gawith flake it's rather medium-moist and can be smoked with only 10-15 minutes of drying time. Other people stated different, mage I just got a tin with a bit of age to it? Dunno

The taste is superior! Deep toast and roast qualities paired with decent flavours of figs, plums, and again good punch of what I perceive as tangerines/oranges-alike (which I LOVE! about Periques who have it). Like stoved and dried fruits. Really rich, yet very mellow.Virginias add a slightly citrusy quality to the flavour-profile, as well as hints of earth if I'm looking for it. By times it get's very caramel-/cane-sugar-molasses-ish. Very intense sugary, caramelized taste! The Virginias must be full of sugars, wow, superior leaf. Rather a mellow smoke in strenght, yet rich and satisfying enough even for me who prefers stronger blends. A bit creamy in texture and with a rather subtle, but noticeable peppery spice that rounds the blend to perfection.

That's it - not more, and not less! One of the most honest, All-Day-suitable and refined Va/Per I've got to taste. St. James Flake has it's very own, unique flavour profile that's superior to many other Va/Per offerings. Edit: After having smoked Best Brown Flake, I'm most certain St. James has the same Virginias in it. Tin aroma is similar + the Perique, aroma too!

In the 2nd half it gains a bit in strenght and spice, yet the roasted and toasted note is consistent throughout the bowl. This roasty and toasty qualities, along with the intense molasses-sugary tone make it so special and enjoyable to me.

Definetly into my rotation and I'll keep a tin at hand of this any time for sure. No-brainer: 4/4 stars for an outstandingly good Va/Per blend that's made in the old fashioned tradition Samuel Gawith is maintaining. WOW! I'm hyped by this tobacco.

I can't believe I haven't reviewed this one yet. I've been smoking it for some time now, and love it.

It's very fruity smelling in the tin, and a bit citrusy as well. The flakes are typical of Sam G products. Pretty moist also, and they take a bit more work to rub out than some of the more tidy flakes. Hard to over rub them though haha. Takes a bit of drying time, or a good number of charring lights. Long slow puffs with the flame works best to cook the damp out of them.

Done properly, what you get is one of the best va/pers available. It's rich and earthy with a fantastic spice note and a lot of fruity goodness. No sourness from the va, and a good slow smoke. Needs a few relights along the way. It's well worth buying if you like va/pers. It's maybe not for beginners, as it takes some practice to smoke it well.

Delicious tin nose of fermented Virginia and fruity Perique. As always with Samuel Gawith, the tobacco in tin is soaking wet. A nuisance! First of all I take theses dark brown and thick flake straps, rub them out roughly, spread it on a plate and let it air for several hours or even overnight. Don’t overdo it with drying, the blend will lose a lot of flavours, not strength, even if you re-moister it. There is only Virginia and Perique in this mixture and I cannot detect any added flavouring, casing or topping.

It’s all top quality tobacco. The robust Virginias donate aromas of bread, yeast, fermented grass, earth, natural tobacco and sweetness, all in different grades and shades as you go on. The Perique is both, pleasantly fruity (plum/raisin) and peppery. ST. JAMES FLAKE is rather a strong mixture, due to the robust selection of Virginias on the one hand, and the peppery part of Perique on the other hand. Perique is the leader in this blend most of the time. Nic-hit is medium to strong. It’s a characterful Va/Per, but not an all day smoke.

I have recently become enamored with Va/Per blends, so I have been sampling all I can to find what styles I really like. Escudo was the first and I absolutely love it, but I know that SG has an amazing reputation for their Virginias, so when I saw the St. James Flake, I immediately snapped up a tin (with another on the way).

There are two main criticisms about this blend. 1) That there is a topping on it that is too sweet. I don't detect a specific flavor of a topping at all on this. The description of the Bulk version does mention that it is lightly dosed with some sugar before packing, but nothing about a flavoring. You can see the crystals in between the layers in flakes which looks really appealing, but I don't find this blend to be too sweet at all. I find it on par with Escudo in the sweetness department, and that is one of the benchmarks of a good Va/Per. Also, I think that the sugar casing might be more to retain moisture than to actually sweeten the blend (sugar is hydroscopic, meaning it can grab and retain water). Speaking of moisture, SG blends are notoriously wet. Do yourself a favor and take a flake of this out about an hour before you want to smoke, rub it out and let it dry before you pack. Your patience will be rewarded.

2) That there is too much Perique. I have one word...Nonsense. Yes, Perique is a "condiment" tobacco, but in my humble opinion, when you are smoking a Va/Per blend the Perique ceases to be a condiment and is the Surf to the Virgina's Turf. I like Perique and the flavors and textures that it brings to the party.

The flavor of this blend is darker and more brooding than Escudo. Where Escudo is more baked goods, sweet spice and honey, SJF is stewed fruit, pepper and molasses. I could smoke Escudo in the morning with a cup of tea, where SJF is more at home as an evening smoke with a nice Bourbon or Cognac. The Virginias are prominent all the way through the bowl, but the Perique moves in and out of the picture with varying degrees of intensity.

I could see this aging beautifully over the next several years and I cannot wait until I have built up a stockpile of these tins to try over the decades.

This is such a rich and satisfying VaPer. It shares the natural sweetness of Best Brown Flake and the earthy/grassiness of Full Virginia Flake. The Perique is fruity (plums, raisin) with some moderate spice and pepper. I definitely do not find this to be an overdose of Perique. Especially with how expertly it marries to the Virginia. I find this flake performs wonderfully fresh or aged.

Finally got my hands on a tin of this stuff. I've smoked full virginia flake and best brown years ago so I've had a fair amount of experience with Sam Gawith tobaccos. I've smoked some Gawith and Hogarth too. Sam Gawith are usually out of stock and my natural progression of sampling blends lead me to mostly McClellands which is where I have stayed. I still like to get a random tin or two though and love all things perique so I got a tin of Saint James Flake.

When I opened my fresh tin of Saint James Flake I was prepared to see the big, long flakes of quality tobacco. Indeed I did and they are beautiful. English blenders can really make a flake. I did cut up into American length flakes though then rub to smoke. It looked as if the tobacco had been aged for 5 years. They were covered in sugar crystals. It must be topped with some kind of sugar. The tin note smelled unnaturally sweet. It's quality tobacco with light perique. The smoke left my lips with a weird sweet residue. Maybe mine received too much of the secret sauce sugar treatment at the factory?

Seems to be a good rich virginia with a little perique. I was curious to see where I'd rate the perique level because there seems to be some debate on that topic. I'd say for the perique lover there's a little and maybe medium for those who like lighter perique. I love the stuff and have a very high tolerance level.

I'm not crazy about the sugar and the faint essence (light fruit of some kind, not floral...I really don't know). I may be wrong about the essence but I like my tobacco as pure as possible. Maybe I'll take it out for a sweet smoke occasionally. There's no denying that Gawith tobacco is first rate but I'm not crazy about it swimming in mountain dew or whatever. I'll stick to McClelland perique blends. If you don't mind the sugar casing go for it. It is by far the wettest tobacco I've encountered. I smoked at different stages of dryness to test the flavor. I wanted to smoke wet to get all of the flavors and tend like a bit of a wetter smoke than most people probably. It smoked best after a full day of drying. It's very gummy when wet and hard to work with.

I'm going to say strong flavoring for the heavy sugar frosting on top. With tobacco this good why ruin it with the toppings? My tin must have been a bad one. I feel like washing off the sugar but I'm afraid that would totally ruin the tobacco.

When I was still a pipe newbie I bought one tin of this. I didnt like it and now I understand why. This is a very complicated tobacco, that takes a more experienced smoker to appreciate it. First of all, for me it has just the right strenght in a pipe tobacco. And the taste is delicious. It is like a spicy meal. Blowing away from the nose is particulary very tasty. Might be the most complicated tobacco I have ever tasted.

Negatives: It is not easy to rub it to a nice ribbon like shape. I will try cutting it next time. Also it does not get lit easily but when it is, it goes all the way.

I am by no means a Va/Per fanatic. In fact, I tend to avoid them as they can often disappoint (that said there are many great Va/Per tobaccos out there). St. James Flake however is one I would definitely spend my money on repeatedly.

Opening the tin you are greeted with a well balanced looking flake. Not too dark virginias but with noticeable perique spread throughout. It smells pleasant enough. The sweet grassy virginias are offset by the perique leaving you with a nice tobacco aroma. Not pungent like a strong english and not sweet like a sticky aromatic. Just pleasant tobacco.

On first light you are hit with a mouth full of spicy perique (at least I am) which quickly fades and becomes balanced by the virginias. That said the perique in this blend is more at the forefront of any other Va/Per tobacco available today. Original three nuns territory (not meaning to offend any die hard three nuns fans). It doesn't have the kick of the original three nuns but there's enough Vitamin N in this blend to make ya feel it.

Overall, this is a nice spicy blend that I personally feel is a pleasant change from most other current Va/Per blends out there. Deserves a 3 out of 4 but no more.

I'll reiterate the observation of other reviewers that the flakes, upon opening the tin, were, as Cragganmore put it, "a big, wet ball of tobacco".

I've smoked it over the course of several months at various levels of moisture, from damp to bone dry to re-moistened, and my experience with it largely echoes Cragganmore's (my fav scotch, btw).

It's a quality flake once it's dry enough to smoke. It's not a bad VaPer, but it doesn't hold a candle to Escudo's shimmering flavorscape: those few bowls that worked for me remained relatively monochromatic. I find it better than McC's St. James Woods, but still far from a truly worthwhile VaPer like, say, Solani's flavorful and interesting 633, or the magnificent Escudo.

Worth trying for the VaPer enthusiast to see if this one rings their bell (as it evidently does for many of our peers), but not recommended for those wanting to discover the unique flavorscape of VaPers for the first time. Maybe, like Cragganmore and perhaps other recent reviewers, I caught a bad batch... But I won't be buying it again.

Update 09/27/13: I just found the tin buried under a few others, forgotten but not discarded. I was in the mood for a VaPer, so I figured... why not? It's now brittle and bone dry. Maybe it's my imagination, but it seems like there's a lot more sugar crystals coating the flakes than I remember. Maybe it's the flake, or maybe it's my mood, or the relative humidity... I don't know, but now it's tasting like a quality flake, really quite lovely in fact, a good balance between sweet and peppery, right in the alto range. I'd up it from 2 to 3 stars, but I'd need to have a few more bowls like the last one. I may purchase it again someday to try to solve the mystery of why I like it all of a sudden, but I'm not in any hurry to.

Normally I have high threshold when it comes to accepting sloppy presentations from Samuel Gawith and it's because I know that there is great quality in the product.

However... I've only had one tin of St. James Flake before this review and I will not be having another. Ever. When I purchase flake tobacco I expect flakes. This was delivered as a big, wet ball of tobacco. I had to let it age for a few months (which I normally do after a first curious sampling) and even then I couldn't get the pre-smoke preparation down. I'd either dry it too much (resulting in total perique-dominance) or too little (resulting in a soaky, wet and annoying smoke). Admitedly I had a few really terrific sessions with this but they were not the norm by any means. The level of perique would vary greatly which even caused me to discard a few bowls, something that I would normally never do.

I'm hoping I just caught a bad batch, which is why I won't rate it below 'somewhat recommended'. I expected more though...

bright clean vaper--enough perique to sharpen it just a bit---to semiquote an earlier reviewer--like a touch of tobasco in a bbq sauce. not very sweet, not so much lakeland--- far less floral than any of the other sg's or gawith-hogarth's. i find when sg flavors, they really flavor, but st james has none of that. it seems pure va mix, with that light tweak of perique. just a pure, rich tobacco taste. heavy enough to be my last pipe of the night favorite.--butit does become hard to find periodically.

I bought a couple of tins of this as I generally like Virginia/perique blends, and it seems to get generally good reviews.

On opening, both tins were stacked with various sizes and thicknesses of sopping, wringing, dripping wet flakes. The interior of one tin was actually rusting from the moisture.

After closing the tins and leaving them for a month the tobacco was still dripping wet, so I left the lid off one tin for four days. I do not exagerate.

After four days drying, I reckoned the top couple of flakes were just about dry enough to take a light, so I tried rubbing one out. It didn't so much rub out as break apart into brittle chunks.

I stuffed it into a cob and applied a light, and kept trying until it caught. My first though was "nice, mild Virginia, but not much perique. No bite at all though - that's good".

About 1/4 of the way down the bowl the sugar started. Sweet, sticky, clinging sugar. And the more I smoked, the more the sugar came flowing out of the stem, like smoking vapourised candy floss. By 3/4 of a bowl my mouth felt so sticky I needed to rinse it out, so I tried a mouthful of diet Coke. The Coke tasted sour and bitter compared to the tobacco.

I gave up in disgust and emptied the bowl into the ashtray. The next day, the cob's cake was full of sugar crystals, the ash in the bowl looked like charcoal and smelled strongly of caramel and the dottle could be snapped like bits of toffee.

I hate throwing tobacco away at UK prices, but both tins went in the bin. As, a week later, did the cob. Nothing I tried could begin to exorcise the sugary ghost.

I may have had a couple of bad tins - going by the rest of the reviews I guess I did. But the poor standard of these tins makes me wonder about SG's quality control.

So, based on my experience, my advice is to avoid unless you like taking chances - and don't try St James in a pipe you don't mind throwing away.

There's no aromatic flavouring in this tobacco by the way - I've marked the flavouring as "strong" because of the overwhelming sugary casing.

Quick update:

In plug form, this is supplied much, much drier and with a better texture, plus you can slice/whatever it as you like. St James plug is absolutely superb.

This review is of a three year old tin of St. James flake. SG flakes commonly have sugar crystals on them, and this tin looked like a stack of very thinly sliced powdered brownies! And of course, the SG flakes are always quite moist. I smoked this tobacco in various states of hydration. From quite soggy, to dried over night brittle. As I expected, smoking this tobac on the dryer side, provided an easier burn and thus better control of flavor. When on the moist end of hydration, I have to rub this flake up a bit more than usual because it is quite dense and difficult to get burning.

Being a huge fan of FullVirginiaFlake, I expected a bit more of that deep buttery sweetness in SJF. Nevertheless, I was not disappointed. The Perique is amazing at times, providing a distinct pepper note, and a ghostly jam flavor. The signature Lakeland flavor seems more subdued or perhaps hidden in this blend. It all adds up to a delicious creamy smoke that is simple and wonderful, like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich!

I found a good range in flavor in SJF depending on moisture level. My girl at first hated the smell (smoke moist), but as I smoke it dryer, and very slowly, she actually loves the smell!

Updated: I just smoked and compared St. James Flake to Dunbar, both are outstanding VaPers. The bulk SJF comes in a long one piece flake that is way too wet to smoke. I broke the flake into one inch pieces, rubbed it out and allowed it to dry for 4hours before I stuffed it into a cob ( I like VaPers from a cob). The Virginias were sweet, slow burning and without bite. The Perique was prominent but behind the Virginias, Dunbar, the Perique was also behind the the Virginias. Both are excellent. I think I would give the edge to the SJF for smoothness but for overall cost ( see my review of Dunbar), availability and ease of loading to Dunbar. So Dunbar is my go to Vaper while SJF will be my contemplating Vaper.Both are Sweeter than Escudo which has nothing to be ashamed of and has more complexity.

I had intended reviewing this tobacco some time ago, but now will have to suffice. As other reviewers have noted, the contents in the tin are soaking wet, and take some time in drying. If I smoke this blend too wet it bites more than is worth the effort to keep it lit. After a few days drying, everything calms down to a tolerable degree, and I have found that nearly dried out is the best way for me to enjoy SJF. Unlike others, I don't detect a huge Perique kick; just a noticeable tickle in the nose and in the room note, after smoking. There is a casing agent of some sort here, too, but it is ephemeral, and soon recedes after lighting. I must say that sniffing the bowl of one's pipe, loaded with SJF, just after it has gone out, is a marvelous experience. I smell figs, prunes, caramel, and strong coffee. The taste, is, in a word, luxurious. This is a rich blend, albeit restrained. It isn't going to win over those whose prefer a lightning bolt virginia/perique smoking experience, a la Escudo or 633. No, SJF occupies a slightly different place in a tobacco niche where choices abound. 2015 is my gold standard for such blends, and SJF will not unseat it, but it is an excellent choice of an evening when you can partake with the attention that it deserves. Dry it, rub it out (or roll it up/break it apart), and enjoy.

It took me a while to warm up to this fine flake, despite my love of all things VaPer. My tin was opened about 6 months ago and now has all of about 1 bowl remaining. But it's only been with the last few bowls that I've come to value this flake.

The dark colored flake is exceedingly moist in the tin and needs at least an hour's drying time before smoking. Aromas on opening are in some respects familiarly VaPerish—a sweet grassiness from the mature Virginias overlaid with slightly sour, fig and date smells from the Perique. I also find a not altogether pleasant tomato leaf quality to St. James Flake which is most present in the tin and at first light.

St. James Flake rubs out easily, but also smokes nicely rolled into a plug or folded and stuffed. The burn is generally cool (assuming proper drying), smoke is copious, strength is modest, and the flavors of grass and dried fruit are very pleasant, though rather quiet. For the first several bowls, I found this too bland, but lately I find its subtle flavors genuinely appealing.

This is not likely to displace my preferred VaPers—all of which tend to greater flavor intensity—but I don't at all regret that I have a few more tins squirreled away.

Initially it seems to have everything I usually look for in a tobacco (high grade virginia; in this case properly aged, and perique). Nice body, nice (tin) aroma, and delivers a good nicotine hit. Obviously hand crafted, nice presentation. Yet smoking it is kind of odd. It strikes me as a little bit blunt (perhaps that's the "big and bold British" side of it). And I too detect that "minty" taste that has been suggested earlier when going on the final third of a bowl. Very odd, indeed.

All in all it's not bad, but it's nothing special either. I had somehow expected something more out of it. Perhaps that minty confectionary thing it has going on is an aquired taste.

I'm afraid I won't be in any particular rush to get more tins of this blend. Which bothers me a little, I want to like S.G, small blending houses are almost extinct these days, but somehow all their blends I've tried so far has been a little of a let-down. But if I know myself right, that won't stop me from checking out their other offerings.

This is very cool smoking Virginia/Perique mixture. I let the tobacco dry considerably and fold the flakes in half to load the pipe. Va/Per mixture with a softness that I enjoy. I finished a tin in one week, and bought several more. There are other great blends in this style but I really do enjoy this one for it's smoothness, and the quality of the tobacco.

Although many have said that the perique in this is a bit overwhelming, I didn't notice it, I would consider this just about one notch up from BBF as far as flavour goes, this is a nice easy going "no brainer" flake, great when your working and don't want to be distracted so much that you go and tell the world and / or your boss, just where in their anatomy they can go and stick their problems while you enjoy. But just enough to keep you interested so that you realise your not smoking this for the vitamin N content.

Based on the tin I had, I found St. James a rather misbalanced smoke. Sometimes it had a round, full, spicy taste, and sometimes it was bland and steamy - not depending on the pipe or packing method. More experiments could help me work my way through to enjoying St. James flake, but I'd better look for something else. Three Nuns for example is definitely a winner compared to St. James.

Like C&D Kajun Kake this tobacco is a VA/Perique blend. I like them both but find that the SG flake version is much milder and easier on my throat. The taste is somewhat sweet and spicy without screaming out "I have casings."

St. James Parish is close to my home town of New Orleans and the only place Perique tobacco is grown. Like other things in Louisiana is has a bold and spicy flavor. In this tobacco the Perique is there but not so over powering as to hide the Virgina taste. The flakes help keep it burning cool and slow. Rubbing this one out does not improve the smoke, leave it in flake form, just fold and pack it.

Like all the SG tobaccos I have tried I like it, maybe I'll try an SG product I don't like soon but not this one.....

For many years my primary daily smoke was Black Parrot. First the German production which was delightful and then the McClelland version which was decent. Six months ago I bought a tin of SGSJF, filled a bowl and said no not really to my liking. The perique was a bit overdone for me.

I tossed the tin aside and did not touch it again until a few nights ago. It had mellowed and was most enjoyable. The perique is still a bit sharper than I like but overall this is a very well made tobacco. VaPer fans should definitely give it a whirl.

SJS desperately calls out for balance in an otherwise quality blend. I hope aging brings out the sweetness that could counter the overly assertive Perique pepper-power. I like Best Brown Flake better without the capsicum. Despite the Perique dominating this blend, the flavor is medium with a little extra. I will reseal the flakes to mature for a few years and see what happens, but there is nothing to recommend here presently, given the VAPER classics and neo-classics readily available. Also, the room note will not make you any friends. Escudo, Fillmore, St. James Woods are just superior choices for me.

an incredible tobacco. upon opening the tin, there isn't that much aroma, but discreet as it is, it is very promising: raisins, figs, and of course: good straight first class tobacco. i don't think i've smelled a tin aroma this beautiful since i was a small boy and was allowed to sniff my anglophile grandaddy's tobaccos.

and indeed, it is all i expected it to be: slightly sweet with notes of figs; zesty; rich. not as diverse as dunhill's de luxe navy rolls, but a much more pure tobacco, as far as i can judge; very much akin to gallaher's escudo, though without the brighter notes of that worthy tobacco. it is a wonderful after-dinner smoke, relaxing and fulfilling. burns all the way to the bottom with a straight taste all through, leaving dry fine ash. it's been a long time since i last enjoyed a pipe of tobacco this much. pure bliss for three quarters of an hour.

i'll have to order a load of this, as one never knows when fate will strike and close down yet another english tobacco manufacturer. and though i see it as very close to perfection now, i believe some storing won't hurt it.

This one is for the perique nuts...(Like myself)- Take FVF and add about 25% perique and this is it. You say this is a simplistic description? Well its accurate. A fantastic Virginia and my favorite spice....thats a receipe for something wonderful..... Warning though..Perique is strong, and the taste is steady from begining to end. I love it, but three stars as you gotta love perique like me to enjoy it. Use caution....

These nicely cut flakes are thinner than others from Gawith and that and the high moisture content resulted in difficulty obtaining uniform packing since I prefer not to rub out my flakes. Multiple relights were ofter needed and moisture/bitterness developed @ the bottom of the bowl. This seemed to be independent of the pipe size and design. Although I enjoyed the taste and strength, other VA/Periques are much easier to smoke and are therefore favored.

Traditional Gawith style flake packing. I smoked a full tin in an old, small Charatan. Just one or at most two bowls a day.

Bold is right. This baby has more LA perique or tastes like it does, than most Va./Perique blends. More than say Stokkebye's Navy Flake, C&D's Kajun Kake, Escudo, Wessex's Folded Flake, Solani's two flakes, etc. Not a bad thing, but a warning. You must adore real Perique to like this one.

Still not as potent as C&D's Exclusive (whoa baby -- I can only smoke the pressed/ extra Va. cut version of that one) or as strong as original Three Nuns could be. Three Nuns strength was in both the Perique and full virginias. SJ Flake is not sweet like Escudo or Three Nuns. Just different. Like S' Navy Flake on steroids.

Maybe as dark and spicy as Butera's Kingfisher, but that one is subdued with cool burley. Just Virginias in SJ Flake.

However, the high quality virginias and pressing subdue the Perique just enough to make the experience worthwhile. You don't taste their woody toastiness like in Full Virginia Flake by Gawith, but they do form a nice base.

I had to let it dry out for a few days to have a more mellow smoke. I found fully rubbed best. It started out a little bitter and took a few bowls to be more rounded in my pipe. Not hot, but somewhat spicy. Little or no bite if puffed slowly. Someone new or occasional to perique would say my description is too mild or the taste is more on the bitter than sour side.

Enough. Either you'll like it or you won't. A bold but true gesture by Gawith whom I beleive has never ventured in the Perique realm before. If you care for Perique, this is for you and at least it won't get you. Weaker of heart, who knows? Perique is not for the meek.

Perique and I don't get along in most blends. It tastes like dirt in about half of the blends I have tried, and smells bad to bystanders, expecially ladies. This however is an exception, and is what a vaper, in my opinion, should be. Smells strongly of fermented fruit in the tin, and has a touch of vinegar that reminds me vagely of the McClelland blends. This ages so well that it almost becomes another tobacco. It sweetens and melts into a sweet virginia and fermented fruit desert. If you enjoy perique done right, get several tins stashed away.

Samuel Gawith St. James Flake is a thick, pressed flake of mature Virginia tobaccos and a substantial portion of Louisiana perique. The flake comes quite moist and does require some drying time. My review is based on flakes that have been aging for nearly 2 years. The Virginias lend a bit of hay and bread, a bit of earthiness, and some sweetness. As I mentioned, the perique is quite substantial in this blend, though it is not rough or overbearing. The flavor of the perique melds smoothly with the Virginia creating a rich flavor of fig-like sweetness that borders on chocolaty, in addition to notes of tangy dark-fruit, and a hint of pepper. I tried this blend in a cube cut and it was phenomenal. I’d gauge the nicotine at medium, and the body at medium-full. This is truly an exceptional and delicious VaPer. In pipe tobacco, it doesn’t get much better than this, folks.

This one has been review by a lot of smokers so I'll keep it short mild virginias with a noticeable presence of perique if you want to know what perique taste like done tastefully this is a good starter; the flake comes pretty moist in either tin or bulk to appreciated is. Y opinión to let it dry to almost crispy consistency, nicotine is about right not too much not too wimpy. Would I buy it again: absolutely!

This reminds me a lot of FVF which is a benchmark among the pure Va lovers. So wouldn't this be a benchmark for the Va/per folks? I catch the prune like fruit but more pepper from the perique. I would say its a little rough around the edges if not sipped carefully because of the perique, but FVF does me that way too. It just seems a little harder on the mouth (and nose) than some blends, although that doesn't detract much. It's a solid blend and very consistent. Hard not to love for fans of this genre.

This tobacco is a sweet Vapor. It smokes really light and has a light sugar coating which complete the peppery perique. The Virginia's seem to be on the fruity end of the continuum which also goes great with the sugar casing. My only complaint is that the overall taste seems to be a little too light for my palate.

By far my favourite VaPer to date. Its sweet and has lots of pepper, no bite, simply delicious. The only down side is the moisture. I've had it in a tin which was very difficult to keep burning. I got some loose which was much better. I found if I packed a bowl and smoked it the following day it was awesome. A must for the VaPer lovers out there.

As far as VAPERs go this is a good one. I detect some sort of flavoring, but truly not sure what it is. Either way it does not detract much from the nicely added perique and tasty VAs. I don't know about you folks, but I find SGs flakes can be quite yummy while offering so much of a challenge with initial light, continued light and smoke production. This will be the last SG flake I'll try most likely, but it has been a fun ride. TLJCSAWA

This is a nice little blend from SG. The Virginia is in the forefront with the perique taking a definite second fiddle position. There does seem to be enough of it to make this blend one of the better ones out there. It may not be on the same level as those of old, but I cannot compare them since they were long gone by the time I got into this most relaxing of hobbies. Upon opening the tin, you will definitely need to dry this out for some time. Trying to light up right off is a bit of a challenge. Once fire has taken hold, it is a very enjoyable blend. It smokes down to a nice ash and has a decent nicotine hit to it. Recommended whenever you can get your hands on some.

Gave this one a few tries because of the reviews it has received and also because I like perique. Actually, I purchased a new Caminetto business billiard for this tobacco alone because I was certain I'd love it. Nope. I give up.

The smoke is just terrible. Flat pepper that's dense and heavy mixed with moldy moss. Typically, I try to get through the whole tin when trying something new. However, only half of this tin was burned and the other half just hit the trash can with a thud.

At the last third of this bowl I said to myself "Why? What's the point?" There's no sense in trying so hard to make this work for me.

If this was all there was to smoke out there, I'd have to quit. It's just that bad.

I can't say much about what comes in tin's but the 2 ounce bulk came very wet and even after 24 hours of drying it was like leather or beef jerky. Would not rub out properly and require many relights. Much more hassle then it's worth for a flavor that was too mild for me. I won't waste my time or money buying it again.

Might be my favorite VA/Per at the moment. I have to confess, however, that I do mix a little granulated Perique in when prepping a bowl of this already tasty smoke. I like the extra tangy flavor and slight additional boost. Sort of like extra BBQ sauce on an already fine rack of beef ribs.

First,this is my first real Va/Per. Compared to other flakes this really need some drying unless you want to be lighting and relighting and annoyed.

But it can also be good as it will last longer once you open the thin and it will also "change" with the time.

When you light it you definitely get some of the sweetness of the Virginias (good ones and dark ones) some fruity flavor/raisins but soon enough you get the peppery flavor of the perique. You might like it you might hate it, nothing to do with the tobacco being good or bad. I used to smoke cigars and this seems to me very close to smoke a cigar mixed with some very good Virginia.

After a few relights it burnt all the way to the bottom of the bowl with no dottle just white thin ash.

Now the key, this thing got better through the bowl and made me sad to finish it. Have the feeling it is gonna get better and better as it dries to become a supreme smoke.

However, this is not the stuff i will smoke everyday. Keep that in mind.

Certainly not a typical VaPer (at least compared to those I've had before). Dark, in color and in flavor, and of course it needed some drying and even then was not easy to get lit. Once going, however, this was a cool smoking, slow experience -- certainly made to be sipped and not smoked hard. I can see the comparison to FVF -- as if FVF had been smoothed out with the addition of a touch of perique (and only a touch -- I think you'd have to be very sensitive to perique to find this had too much).

This is a joint review of full virginia and St. James flakes as I find them very similar. These flakes are between a traditional sweet and dried prune-y flake like old gowrie and a pungent beef jerky-ish kendal/lakeland rope. Fans of many styles of tobacco will likely enjoy this, including orlik golden smokers, heavy latakia blend smokers, kendal/lakeland smokers, and cigar smokers. It has more complexity and nicotine and a thicker body than a typical va flake like old gowrie but not so much as to turn off many smokers who can not handle higher nicotine tobaccos like irish flake.

As always with SG this is very wet in the tin and the flakes are all of varying thickness. I find both of these things mildly irritating but the sheer quality of the smoke more than makes up for it.

To my taste buds, this seems like FVF with perique, which (to my taste buds) makes it an improvement on FVF. I don't detect any of the Lakeland florals here (but I'm not perticularly put off by them anyway) just a full, naturally sweet, rich tobacco flavour.

P.S. I think the reviewer below me must have got the wrong tobacco sent in his latest package. There is certainly no Latakia in this.

Light and mellow, smooth and creamy. St. James Flake is a great way to start the day, and may just replace my beloved E.M.P. (R.I.P.). I use the patented Fold n' Stuff method, and it lights and burns very easily (make sure it's good and dry first, however).

I don't find it to be a particularly strong 'baccy; I've experienced no kick from it, but that's fine with me. Despite being comprised of several different tobaccos, this is not a complex blend. All of the flavors play nicely together, making this just a simple, but rich, smoke. Recommended if you're in the mood for a softer VaPer, one that just settles on your tongue instead of stomping on it (don't be fooled however; it will bite hard if drawn from too quickly).

my first couple smokes of st. james flake made me assume this is just a typical va/per, it reminded me a lot of solani 633.. However, after about a month of drying in the tin this stuff is amazing. It is a lot more tangy now and there are hints of dried fruit.. I think it is maybe a shade better than the 633 which I also liked a lot. So top marks, I would just recommend some drying time in the tin.

This is the first VaPer I've tried, and it has become a real favorite of mine. There is a nice mild sweetness that persists throughout the smoke, and subtle fruity nuances that come and go. If not for the fact that the nicotine content of this one bowls me over a bit, I'd smoke it all the time.

I came to this tobacco fairly inexperienced in the world of pipe tobaccos - aromatics were generally too cloying, while I didn't particularly care for the smokey latakia in most English blends. This packs a lot of intriguing flavor without being too much of anything.

First I have to state is I am not a big fan of flakes (you know: all this rubbing or unfolding job is quite boring for me... and I have noticed many many times that flakes normally offer less bowls per tin)

Of course, some flakes give you delicious undertones and overtones... but just prefer good mixtures on ribbon cut. I preferred them 25 years ago, and I still do prefer.

St.James Flake is a decent combination of Virginia and Perique. Good taste, a little bit peppery... and nothing more.

I am not especially fond of Perique, so this is not a regular for me. Just a change of pace. With Perique, I prefer the style of Artisan`s Blend (because the other components are strong and tasty enough)

So finally, I think this can be recommended for fans of VAPers in the mild to medium side.

Sweet natural virginias, with a nice amount of perique (not overwhelming) make this blend a must have to perique fans. The perique comes and goes, giving space to taste all the glorious sweetness of the virginias, making it very interesting and not boring at all. Perique is not really my favorite leaf, thus the 2 stars... Looking forward to taste it aged.

One of my favorites from Samuell Gawith, this is not an everyday smoke for me simply because it lacks the nic kick I like but this i certainly a frequent and very enjoyable smoke. The Virginias are very sweet and the Perique adds a wonderful peppery kick. It is also much less oily than FVF, though I assume it is the same Virginias with just a small amount of Perique added. Still it seems much lighter on the tongue.

My kilogram of St James Flake in bulk arrived after four inter-continental journeys. It was very dry in the pouch, the flakes having lost all pliability and having become brittle. I rehydrated some gently by leaving a damp napkin over a quantity of tobacco overnight. In all I have gone through about 250 grams, half after rehydration and half in the dry state.

Either way there was practically no pouch aroma. On putting light to the bowl there was a magnificent burst of flavour and smoke. The virginias are the stars of the show here, with perique used truly as a condimental tobacco. But what a condiment! Like saffron or coriander in certain cuisines, it leaves its unmistakable stamp. As a result the mixture is deep tasting, and deeply satisfying. Like all Gawith flakes I have tried this burns cool, and burns steadily without need of frequent relights. I tend to pack flakes somewhat densely, and on one memorable occasion a medium sized bowl lasted more than three hours. I am fortunate in having a family partial to pipe smoke - though detesting cigar and cigarette smoke - and the room note was liked.

A splendid addition to the repertoire, recomended to all for a serious trial.

I had slightly higher expectations for SJF than what I got when i smoked it. That being said it was a very satisfying smoke. Not being a fan of FVF I was curious to see what this blend was going to be like. I've had about a year of age on this tin and when I opened it I was greeted with an extremely sweet smell. In fact I almost thought there is a it of a topping on this flake. The flakes had developed some nice sugar crystals and I figured I was in for a great smoke. I decided to rub the flake out and let dry a bit, after about 90 minutes it was still overly moist so I decided that I will deal with it moist. I get alot of the same notes as FVF but the perique adds just a smidgen of another dimension. I really wish there was a bit more perique as the Virginia dominates this blend with the spice only dancing in and out.

I think this would be a great first smoke and a fantastic way to start the day but for an evening smoke it leaves me wanting. I don't usually talk about fruit and all that junk but there is defintely some fruity undertones taking place from the Virginia. I think there is defintely some better VaPer's out there and the lover of a strong Va Per may forego this one.

Edit: I upped it a star I heard from other that the smoke quality ranges from flake to flake, my first few smokes weren't that good but then i got some really good ones so I think 3 stars is fair for inconsistency.

Very much a kin to FVF or Best Brown. In fact, I believe the base virginias are from them with a nice amount of perique added. I can never have enough perique and almost wish that St. James Flake had a touch more! Oh well, I took care of that courtesy of McClelland's blending line. This tobac seems to tastes better when its dried out somewhat and that wonderful dried grass and hay wafts past the nose. Ranks up there with FVF and BBF.

A tin note of chamois leather and caramel. Some say this is a perique bomb but I'm really not getting that. I see this as a Virginia blend, rather than a VaPer. Some slight pepperiness, pleasant retrohale, not overly complex and rewards a slow, gentle draw.

Needs careful rubbing out and packing if multiple relights are to be avoided.

Not particularly memorable but it does have the most pleasant room note I've come across.

This is a top grade tobacco. For those familiar, it is basically Full Virginia Flake with the not-so-subtle addition of Perique. The Perique is way more prominent in this blend than I would prefer it to be, so I tend to dilute it 50/50 with FVF to tone down the perique a bit without losing the nice Virginia notes Gawith intended to impart. It is sweet, tangy, spicy, and a bit stronger than average I would say. Great stuff from my favorite blending house.

Like FVF this is rather difficult to manage, prepare and light. Personally I've given up on FVF for those reasons and prefer McClelland's Blackwood's Flake. Similar comments apply to this St James Flake, although the deep plummy, figgy perique does make this one rather a star in the Va/Per category. Deep virginia and the plum/fig perique combine to make this a really distinct smoke. The perique here isn't of the peppery/spicey variety and might be the proper St James stuff rather than the cheaper Acadian perique found in most tobaccos. Deserves a four star rating for taste, but remains difficult to prepare for smoking.

This is,like all Gawith tobacco, top quality. There is a lot of Perique in here but its not a particularly spicy Perique, but more a dark fruit mellow version. Its a moist flake and a bit of drying time is suggested. You can also rub it out a bit as it helps with keeping it lit. The flavors are lush and the nic hit is at least medium.Smokes cool and very slow. Its a substantial smoke in all regards. But as i say, very very flavorful. I suspect a very light added casing, but very very light.

In the great pantheon of pure VaPers this is perhap, still, #1. McClelland's bayou Slices is close, and Mc C use different virginias so its a matter of taste i suspect. McClelland also makes the excellent Beacon Extra if you like a LOT of perique. St James Woods by McC is also good, but more medium in all respects. God knows there are dozens of good VaPers out there, some with Burley and a bit of casing like Reiner Long Golden Flake, and Solani 633...which I believe is pure VaPer. Very good stuff. But this remains the gold standard against which all are judged.

Purchased From: danish pipe shop

Similar Blends: Its comparable to any Va/Per flake. But its Gawith so it has that distinct richness and strength..

This is a tobacco you have to treat with respect, don't smoke on an empty stomach, the nicotine kick is substantial if you have a large bowlful.

It is a lovely smoke if taken in small amounts and prepared with care, no bite and very generous with the perique.

A bit too pokey for me but that is probably down to my technique and I will try it out in different pipes to see which it suits best, it certainly deserves more research and I shall be getting some more to find the optimum combination to enjoy it at its best.

After 15 years stint with heavy Latakia/English I just needed a break.Been smoking Escudo,Stokkebye's LBEF and Hal O' the Wynd occasionally but few months ago started to fill my cellar with VA/Pers. St.James Flake....a real treat.The tin note sweet,fruity you can almost smell plums and raisins. As Gawith Flakes the moisture level on tobacco in tin is really moist so before you can smoke it you need dry those thick flakes.I usually open the tin and let it stand for 2-3 weeks or just take out few flakes and let it stand overnight and next morn give these babies a good rub.The flake itself has a consistency of a beef jerky,but after good rub you will be rewarded By one of best Va/Pers in the market.Thick rich,sweet smoke...not so peppery as tobacco with Cyprian Lat.Syrian is more subtle more mellow. Been smoking these flakes rubbed and folded and this case I prefare rub out method. If you're into Va/Pers or just a novice smokers.Try it.Absolutely one of the best

In truth a powerful Perique-Virginia,don´t be wrong this isn´t the common VaPer.The generous amount of Louisiana magical leaf is just on the maximun point enjoyable and tolerable for the human body of us ,worshippers of the holy cajoun goddess.Certainly not easy to rub out and needed of drying before smoking,please don´t dry very much.I love it.So you know what you can find. If you like Va with a gentle touch of Perique this is not for you.

If I can smoke only one vaper in the rest of my life, this is it! Before I finished my first tin, I reordered a bulk box(250g) and a couple of tins. Considering this burns extremely slow and the delightful enjoyment all through the bowl, it may be the most cost-effective on the market. Highly recommended!

Update:2015-06-26: For the past 6 months, I have tried a lot Vaper and similar blends that may fall into this category. I think I will downgrade 1 star due to the slightly larger amount of peppery perique and the consistent but a little monotone taste. I realize that there are more than a few mixtures I appreciate more than this one. I will see how few years of aging might have a change to it.

Perique? Where is the perique? this is a best brown flake, quite wet, point. The perique was probably forgotten. If you like FVF, and best brown flake, try this one too, it is as good as the others. But not much different!

I had found that the SG line of flakes were very inconsistently sized. The cut would be thin for one flake and then thick for the next flake. Also the flakes were a little difficult to rub out. Lastly, I had trouble keeping this stuff lit and producing an acceptable amount of smoke. These flakes had really nice flavor though. Eventually dropped the whole line of flakes due to these drawbacks. For this flake I really did not like the flavor profile...some odd casing I can't put my finger on.

Another nice SG blend. Tin presentation is very nice, flakes are a little moist but with a little drying it smokes beautifully. Another SG blend that I will keep on hand, and one that seems to be more available then FVF.

I, personally, would describe this blend as a mixture of dark Virginias, a tiny pinch of Perique and "a generous proportion" of sugar. Once you find a right way to treat the flakes of uneven thickness, it'll burn quite well and steadily. Tastes somehow smoother and much sweeter than most VaPers I've tried, but still is a nice and satisfying smoke. 100% worth it's price!

Wet in the tin. I take out 2 flakes, and nuke them for about 6-8 seconds. Rub them out and get to it.

This Perique shows a nice spice that is well balanced with the Va. Straight forward tobacco flavor, smooth all the way down. This blend does require several relights, but it could just be me. One of my top favorite flakes from SG. I've only smoked a tin of this, so my 3 star may change to a 4.

I bought this tobacco for the first time about a year ago when I was in cologne and opened it straight out of the store, just to have a look and smell and I was so anxious to get back home to smoke it for the first time after that...

the smell out of the tin is very fruity, but dark, a lot like stewed plums and even a little bit chocolatey. it's definitely a heavily sweet-ish smell, but not like candy. savory-type sweetness, if you understand what I mean. Delicious. rich and dark...

Packing this is a challenge, as some flakes are extremely thick and also pretty moist, as with all SG flakes. I gave up on fold & stuff with this one. it tastes perfect as a very chunky ready rubbed. so you have a lot of little flake scraps and hardly any strands. more like broken flake, I guess. pack it loosely, light, tanp, relight, tamp, relight and off you go.

the flavors are like the smell... fruity, heavy, sweet, peppery, creamy...rich and dark. it's delicious! and after the tin is opened, it definitely develops over time. I had mine open for about half a year before I smoked it again and it was so much better. still very moist, but the flavors intensified and it became even smoother. the smoke feels like you could chew it in your mouth, that's how creamy this is.

This is my second Va/Per tobacco I try, the first one being also a flake from gawith and hoggarth (Louisiana Flake).

I honestly don't know which one I prefer... The smell from the tin is of strong fruity purée, with some notes of pot pourri which is amazing.

In the beginning, this one was more difficult to smoke as it was a bit wetter. I had to relight it a few more times.

However, this flake smokes much more neutrally and I just love it. It is strong, and really excellent, I think it has more perique than the G&H Louisiana flake. It has more body and character. Will definitely buy both again.

The smoke is thick and creamy, the taste is full and exquisite. No special aroma detected, maybe a hint of fig jam? I will maybe get more of a taste with the meer.

Description: The tin description is spot-on: A sumptuous blend of Virginias and Perique, this big, bold British style flake incorporates a generous proportion of St. James Parish.

First impressions: Like most SG blends, the tin label is simple and unpretentious. This is indicative of a quality pipe-tobacco blend, which should be judged by the contents and not by the branding. It has a picture of someone, whom I presume to be Samuel Gawith himself. This gives the tin a nice old-fashioned feel. Upon opening the tin, the aroma of matured Virginia and generous portion of Perique reveals an unmistakable depth of a quality flake tobacco. Unfolding the paper reveals beautifully presented tobacco with an almost motly-crue of leaf variation in the flakes. Due to the high-demand of this blend and drying time constraints, the flakes where on the moist side. This is a problem which can easily be solved though. I allowed a few days drying time until it was almost crispy. I received a good tip from my friend and fellow pipe-reviewer, Mo. After drying out the tobacco, place it back in the tin and allow for two-weeks "settling" time. I haven't tried this with SJF myself, but can take it with good authority from Mo. I'm not a big fan of the fold & stuff method as it is a recipe for inconsistent smokes. I rub it out completely and use the air-pocket method which appears to be working well for me. Upon first light I knew that I was going to enjoy this blend. The sweetish fullness from the Virginia and spicy strength from the Perique checks all tick-boxes in terms of what I classify a good VAPER to be. The burning qualities of this blend is excellent, requiring few relights common with many flake tobaccos. The remainder of the bowl was consistently good with not too much complexity. You don't have to concentrate too hard to enjoy this blend.

Last impressions: SJF has grown on me as I progressed through the tin. Due to the fullness & strength this blend offers, I have had consistently good smokes in various pipes/times of day/mood etc. This blend will age well and allow for some complexity to develop. St James Flake will have a permanent spot in my rotation. My second favorite VAPER after the king, Escudo.

Similar blends: I'm a bit hesitant to list similar blends as I haven't tried them all (I'm not pipestud:-). But I can say it reminds me of McClelland's St James Woods, although this is far better due to the strength & consistency. If you enjoy great vapers like Escudo, I think there's a good chance you'll enjoy SJF.

Final Notes: SG doesn't label the year of production, so I'm not sure how old this tin is. I presume its very young and I will update my review after I have aged this blend.

TBR rating: 4/4

Personal rating: 4/5 - For now I'm reserving one star to see how well this blend ages.

VaPer's have been in my rotation for many years. My standard had been McClelland's MC2015 bulk, which has a wonderful sweet and sour taste with an OK room note. Esoterica's Dorchester has the best room note of any VaPer I've smoked but burns too hot due to its cut. St James has taken over as my favorite, both with excellent taste and room note. SG has the perfect balance of Virginias and Perique. The tobacco is a bit moist so some drying is recommended.

I agree with the other reviewers' opinion about the tobacco aroma and room note. If no like VaPer's try this one. The only problem is availability in the States from time to time.

For the Va/Per lovers, which I am quickly becoming, this is a superb flake. For the longest time anything with perique was a turnoff for me. Now, as my tastes have become more refined, I find a smattering of perique to be very relaxing. I don't have a lot of knowledge on Va/Pers generally, but I think this has got to be what they're all about. I like this nearly as much as FVF, although different.

Now this is probably one of the best tobaccos I have ever smoked in my "career".........been looking for ages for a perfect Virginia and this is the one. Never smoked VAs before because I couldn't find THE Virginia i was looking for. They were always either too sweet or too tangy , biting my tongue and disappointing from the first half of the bowl onward.I always called it the Tutan-Klan curse. Like the Clan tobacco my father used to smoke, they smelled good and tasted bad. (Couldn't ever explain how a great pouch aroma and room note and a nasty taste could come from the same tobacco). Anyway, SJF is a natural, dark-pressed flake which is entirely satisfying and higly recommended by me. It contains Lousiana Perique too which is a fine touch. I admit I did not realize the presence of Perique until half-bowl, when first I caught the distinctive peppery sting of Perique coming out of the folds of this rich and sweet Virginia. But I appreciated it. ( If my taste buds are still alive and kicking, there's no trace of Latakia in this blend, like some reviewer has hinted). It comes a little too wet for my taste but I guess thos at Gawith's will like to sell moisture at tobacco price, won't they? Absolutely to be rubbed in my opinion ( and laid to rest for a while if possible) , the twist-and-go option will cost you three boxes of matches at least. A tobacco good from breakfast to noon, I simply love it! (Too bad here in Italy it's pricey).

Sweet sweet VAs, peppery PE: the magic formula…..and SG gives it a touch of perfection! Flakes are brown, moist, with very sweet aroma: figs, nuts, oak wood, honey. No flavoring added. Like all SG you have to let it dry out for a couple of hours before smoking; I rub the flakes and then let them dry. Lighting is very easy and the flakes burns dry and slow. The more you go through the bowl, the more you can enjoy the sweetness and the roundness of this fantastic blend. This is the sweetest of SG VA flakes, more than BBF and FVF. PE stays in the backyard, I cannot taste its usual stronger peppery notes, but it completes the mixture and adds a good taste to VAs. All Lakeland scent comes out of the bowl, with a very cool satisfying smoke. No flavors added, only fantastic top quality tobacco taste, with a medium load of vitamin N. This is an all day smoke, good to start the day after a plenty breakfast, great for your afternoon, and relaxing after dinner. I think no one can never be disappointed with this blend. Absolutely at the top!

Like Scheherazade, this tobacco has 1001 tales to tell. It seems that it's never the same twice.

I don't know why it's so variable: Perhaps it's the complexity and unpredictability of the perique, perhaps it's that the flakes vary from graphene-like monolayers to chunky slabs, perhaps SamuelG's QA department like a few too many lunchtime pints, perhaps it's how much drying time you've given these moist flakes or perhaps it's down to the alignment of planets when you light up.

I don't mean to imply that it's variable from good to bad - just that the way in which it's good is unpredictable.

As with all SamG flakes, a little drying time helps bring out the best (and stops it being flame retardant).

Very dark brown tasty virginia spiced up with perique. I didn't need to smoke many bowls of this tobacco for it to become one of my all time favourites. Creamy and tasty and no tongue bite. The flakes aren't evenly cut, so some are thicker and some thinner. I don't mind since I rub them.

St. James Flake in bulk is dryer than tinned so you get more tobacco by weight for the money.

The reviewer SomkeQuest had latakia in his tobacco, but that was a mix up or contamination, and only one batch was affected.

On opening the tin a strong sweet smell hit me and I was rather worried the smoke would be a nauseatingly sweet one, my anxiety however proved to be entirely needless. The charring light brings a woodsy and peperry taste which is quickly balanced out by the sweeter malty notes which diminish in strenght the more the smoke progresses. Its taste is nice and full with the higher concentration of perique for a VaPer dancing on the tongue througout without being overpowering. It also leaves a persistant creamy aftertaste on the palate which is quite pleasant. This smokes surprisingly dry considering how wet it is in the tin and it's one of the coolest smokes I've had.

The only reasons I can't give this four stars are these: It packs more of a nicotine punch than I like which restrics me to smoking it in small bowled pipes, but if you're more inclined to vitamin N than I am, this can well be an asset to SJF. My main qualm with it lies with its lack of ease of packing, the flakes are uneven and tight, rendering fold and stuff impractical, and though it doesn't let itself get rubbed out as readily as other falke I've had, I find that rubbing it out to a ribbon like form works best.

Immediately after lighting makes a malty sweet, wide, with slightly tart undertones of Perique. With increasing duration of smoking something harsher, darker flavor notes come to light, making the tobacco interesting and independent. The SJF has its layers of flavor to the end without in any way to be unpleasant. The taste is most likely to be compared with the FV-Flake. Maybe a little drinkable with a slightly sour note of the background Perique.

A highlight of Kendal for Virginia lovers. Those who find pleasure in natural, dark-pressed flakes should try this tobacco in any case. For me, a great addition to FV-Flake and Sam's Flake from the same manufacturer.

I purchased several pounds of this tobacco in bulk a few months ago, thinking it was the same tobacco that I purchased in cans in 2009. This is not the same tobacco; my new purchase has Latakia instead of Perique. Although this is a very high quality tobacco, smooth with a hint of sweetness, I cannot smoke it because I don't like the taste of Latakia. This tobacco is superb for fans of Latakia but not for me.

Halfway through a tin I bought half a year ago, I now feel ready to review.

As with all Samual Gawith flakes, this one comes in slices of varied thickness and is rather wet at first. The tin aroma is nice, pretty typical of a VA/Per, but nothing exceptional, really. Sweet and bready.

Fold-twist-sink does not work for me with this blend; I need to rub it out pretty thoroughly. Smoked that way, it's a good, solid VA/Per flake that has enough vitamin N to satisfy me. Not one for the beginner, though.

St. James Flake needs to be smoked slowly and needs good maintenance; that way it will burn down to a mottled ash and give good flavour, room note and enough of a Nic kick towards the end to make it interesting. I have had better and far more affordable VA/Per flakes though, so I cannot give a full rating here.

I rubbed this blend out thoroughly, so the review is based on smoking it in this consistency. It burned smoothly, with just a slight peppery flavor. It's strength is relaxed, as if it was held in reserve a bit, an effect that may be partly due to its being rubbed out.

The nic quotient is medium strong to me; it doesn't wake you up right away but it does hit you later down the end of the bowl. The flavor, however, is not overwhelming. In its rubbed consistency I found it subtle and with no discernible roughness. It's not a Shouter, more of a Pipe Whisperer. I had few relights, even without too much airing out, and it burned down to the heel with no wetness or bitterness.

I got the impression that it will take me some time to fully appreciate the nuances of this deceptively unobtrusive blend. The perique is predominant but not tyrannical, as it is expertly blended with the virginias. Yet the nic, a component to which I've grown sensitive, did catch up with me a bit towards the end. It will never be an all day smoke, but that's just me. I liked it fine and I plan to continue to explore it out in the future. Three and a half out of four *.

This is some good stuff. I had smoked most of my first tin and loved it. The remains must have sat for over a year in my closet before I discovered it again with only three thin flakes left - and as brittle as Melba toast. I ground it into a range of sizes (some kinda big), and viola! Still as good as I remember!

Typical VA rules apply when smoking, but sip it along and the flavors are fantastic. Interestingly, I do pick up the faintest trace of soap in these last few dried pieces. Sounds weird, but it fits just fine.

SJF is most probably the FVF plus the generous help of my beloved Perique.

When talking about SG it's always of top notch tobacco components, that's out of any discussion.

But, to be frank, I expected a bit more from this. At the end of the only tin I've got from abroad (but SJF will be soon available here in Italy, and again at very top premium price…) I realize that my problem with SG's flakes is how hardly compressed they are. I just like softer flakes. As a matter of fact the fold & stuff method results pretty impossible, this thing is fireproof. So I cut the flakes in small dices, and that works fine. One size 4 bowl lasts a hours or more.

Regarding flavour, it's as natural as one expects from the purest VaPer. No trace of any chemical flavouring. No soap, no flowers. Just tobacco flavour. The Perique adds a deeper dimension to FVF – some of FVF's tender notes going lost – without so much pepper.

For all intensive purposes, every other review that I have done up to this date has been with blinders on. While I have enjoyed tobaccos that are especially strong, I have not fully appreciated more mellow blends. I have been trying my hand at various VaPers lately, and I am very happy with the results. After waiting months for St. James Flake to become available online (albeit for a total of a day or two), I was able to order 6 tins. Boy am I glad that I did. I have nothing new to say, other than get some when you can.

Beautiful blend. Humidity is on the higher side out of the tin so it requires some drying. Typical SG flake, I prefer to smoke after rubbing out. Tobacco is based on excellent virginia leaf, something between FVF and best brown. The taste as well as strength are however supported by a good dose of perique. To me this is a fair, natural baccy with complex taste. I can only recommend it to everybody.

An excellent flake VAPer. Combines the lovely flavor of FVF or similar with high quality perique in a nice ratio. Really outstanding. I have not smoked much of this (yet) but the first few bowls reminded me of my reaction when I first tried Scottish Cake... lots of different nuances as the bowl burns down, too.

I purchased this tin at the Columbus show, and cracked it open right away to smell it and see what it looked like. The flakes are long and semi-broken rather than in discrete, individual slices as I've found in other tins. This didn't surprise me, as SG's Balkan Flake is very similar. The pieces had the whitish cast of sugar on them, which made my briar bretheren drool! (Again, the Balkan Flake had the same sugar mottling on it). In the tin, however, I detected a strong smell of damp straw, and not much else. It was suggested that I put the tin up for a month or so to let nature take its course, so I left the tin alone for about a month and a half, closed but not sealed.

Upon returning to the tin, I found that the green straw smell had dissipated, leaving a fairly straightforward Virginia aroma.

I loaded it into a pipe fully-rubbed. I used a fairly large-bowl pipe, which is what I smoke most of my blends in. This may have been a mistake. I say that because while the flavor was very good, I quickly found out that the nicotine delivered a "POW! right in the kisser!" punch that had me sweating rather quickly. I had to put the bowl down and reapproach it several times.

The flavor is mild, but I still enjoyed the complexity of the various VAPER flavors with each puff.

Given the nicotine punch it packs, it may be a bit too much for me, but it's a good 'baccy that VAPER fans and nicotine hounds should favor.